BLACKMORE, R. D. “Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor” [Harper & Bros, 1903]

BLACKMORE, R. D. Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor.

New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1903. With a special introduction by the author. 8.5" x 5.75", xii + 560pp + 2 ads. Illustrated from drawings by W. Small and from photographs taken expressly for this work by Clifton Johnson, including portrait frontispiece and photographic plates. Publisher’s decorative green cloth over boards, front cover and spine elaborately blocked in gilt, teal, and olive with repeating Art Nouveau–style foliate design; spine lettered in gilt. Light edge wear and minor rubbing at spine ends and corners; some fraying at spine head; binding sound and square. Very Good-.

An attractively produced early twentieth-century Harper illustrated edition of Blackmore’s enduring West Country romance, first published in 1869. This edition pairs W. Small’s line drawings with atmospheric photographic illustrations by Clifton Johnson, reinforcing the novel’s deep sense of place in Exmoor. The striking decorative cloth binding, rendered in gilt and stylized foliate forms typical of the Art Nouveau period, reflects Harper’s gift-book aesthetic of the era.