Percy Bysshe Shelley — The Sensitive Plant

London, Aldine house , 1898 . Cloth. The first thus of Percy Bysshe Shelley's romantic, dreamlike poem, containing the striking, Art Nouveau illustrations by Laurence Housman. The first Housman edition, being the first thus to contain illustrations by Laurence Housman.Bound in the publisher's original decorative cloth. Wonderfully illustrated throughout by Laurence Housman, a leading book illustrator in the 1890s who was known for his marvellous Art Nouveau wood engravings, such as these. Housman studied art in London and was a prolific and popular illustrator during the first few years of his career, before focusing more on writing. Illustrated with eleven plates and a frontispiece. Collated, complete.First published in 1820, 'The Sensitive Plant' explores nature, art and the human psyche. Written by Percy Bysshe Shelley, this romantic poem comments on society's' view of perfection and humankind's place in the universe. Bound in the publisher's cloth. Externally, excellent, with light rubbing to the extremities and minor bumping to the spine. Light spots to endpapers and fore edge. Internally, frontispiece and plate to page 20 are working loose and may detach. Otherwise firmly bound. Pages are bright, with very light spotting to the first and last few pages. Glue residue adhered to the margin of plates to page 40, 46 and 48. Very Good Indeed . Ill.: Laurence Housman. Very Good Indeed .