Maggs Bros.

Very good, bindings bright and clean with only a slight crease to vol.1 from opening to the In Principio page as often found, foxing is endemic to the first gathering of vol 1. of the Doves Bible, the result of a paper flaw, however thankfully here it is particularly inoffensive, slipcases rubbed and scuffed.

Writing in his farewell publication which announced the closing of the Doves Press, T.J. Cobden-Sanderson declared that ‘the English Bible is a supreme achievement achievement of English Literature’; looking back, we can confidently state that his Doves Bible is a supreme achievement of English typography. It is a triumphant work, considered to be the magnum opus of the press. Colin Franklin exclaims: “Nothing is so stark and pure, such unbending art as the Dove’s Bible”. Johnston’s initials are an intrinsic part of the text rather than straight decoration, and their pure beauty completes rather than adds to the whole. Here we have probably the greatest example of his work with the opening great red ‘I’ of Genesis which Ransom describes as “a pattern for all time of complexity reduced to the minimum of simplicity”.