Condition Report
Contact Information
Auction Specialist
Lot 67
Sale 6330 - Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana
May 8, 2025
10:00AM CT
Live / Chicago
Own a similar item?
Estimate
$300 -
400
Price Realized
$640
Sold prices are inclusive of Buyer’s Premium
Lot Description
[LEAF BOOK - GRABHORN PRESS]. [HEYWOOD, John (ca 1497-1580)]. The Spider and the Flie with an original leaf from the edition of 1556. San Francisco: John Magee at the Grabhorn Press, 1939.
Small 8vo. With an original leaf from Heywood's The Spider and the Flie tipped in. Original marbled wrappers, red printed paper cover label.
LIMITED EDITION, one of 55 copies, containing an original leaf from Heywood's The Spider and the Flie (1556), this copy with a full-page woodcut depicting a scholar seated next to a window with a large fly trapped in a spider's web.
Heywood's The Spider and the Flie is an allegorical poem that reflects the socio-political and religious tensions of Tudor England. The work, comprising over 6,000 lines of verse, presents a conflict between two factions: the Spiders, symbolizing Protestant reformers, and the Flies, representing Catholics. Through this extended metaphor, Heywood critiques the Reformation's impact on England, advocating for Catholicism and expressing concerns over the Protestant ascendancy. Chalmers, Disbound and Dispersed Checklist 81.