Witchcraft in England, 1st edition, 1st printing

HOLE, Christina: Witchcraft in England. Illustrated by Mervyn Peake

London: B.T. Batsford, Ltd.: 1945. 15.5 x 22.5 cm. 167pp. 

1st edition, 1st printing.

Publisher's original red cloth, title in gilt to the spine. Dust wrapper in good order, slightly chipped on edges and tips, tight binding with minor bump on top of spine. Profusely illustrated by Mervyn Peake's macabre illustrations in monochrome and line. Illustrations throughout, with a combination of full page plates and in text illustrations, and atmospheric and striking illustrated dust wrapper. Contents clean and fresh, only some minor foxing on edges but none noticeable on pages, with a contemporary previous owner's inscription dated 1945. Not price clipped. 

This title belongs to the most fruitful period of Peake as an illustrator, starting in 1939, when he published his illustrated fantasy Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor, which showed his affinity for the grotesquerie of the British Romantic tradition. In 1943, after he was discharged from the army as an invalid, Peake concentrated on finishing writing his novel Titus Groan, and on illustrating, and went on to publish his acclaimed illustrations to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It was during this period that he completed some of his best-known illustration projects, such as Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1948), his own novel, Titus Groan (1946), and the current volume, Witchcraft in England (1945). 

A nice copy of Christina Hole's classic and hard-to-find account of the history of English witchcraft, with the added bonus of Mervyn Peake's illustration work. 

£220