Mosher Books: Two Latest Acquisitions

I've mentioned this before, Devoted Reader: the Benton Hatch Mosher Check List has become an invaluable aid in furthering my collection. Here are two recently acquired books published by Thomas B. Mosher of Portland, Maine.

Felise: A Book of Lyrics, by Algernon C. Swinburne, published by Thomas B. Mosher, Portland, Maine, 1894.
Listed as number 7 in the Hatch Check List, Felise is the earliest Mosher book I now own. A small 8vo, with vellum boards, yapped edges, vellum pages, I believe, one of 725 copies. Felise is an anthology of Swinburne's work to date and features a lengthy selection from Poems and Ballads, first second and third editions, choruses from Atalanta In Calydon, a selection from Cleopatra and Marie Stuart.

The Georgics of Virgil, Volume Two, J.W. MacKail, translator, published by Thomas B. Mosher, 1899.
Mosher's book differed from those published by his contemporaries. In an age when books were ornate to the garishly grotesque, typography was disastrously mixed and over done and cover boards die stamped like crazy, Mosher's books had a spare simplicity, a minimal elegance. Even when Mosher chose to produce a lavish edition, as in the case of The Georgics of Virgil, there was still a spareness to the design. Part of the Miscellaneous Series, one of 450 editions, slipcased, with paper wrapped cover boards, rustic green borders throughout. A very pretty little book.