ISABELLA; OR THE POT OF BASIL.

First edition with these illustrations, first printing. Original green cloth with gilt titles and decorations to the spine. No dustwrapper. Deckled edges. With black and white full page illustrations, elaborate border decorations (each double-page spread with a different design) and illuminated initials by W. B. Macdougall. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth with light wear, some minor chipping at the corners and darkening at the spine. There is a neat ownership inscription on the front free endpaper, offsetting and spotting to the endpapers and light toning to the margins, the contents are otherwise clean throughout.

A stunningly illustrated edition of John Keat's 1818 narrative poem 'Isabella; or The Pot of Basil', which inspired celebrated paintings by artists such as William Holman Hunt, John William Waterhouse and John Everett Millais. William Brown Macdougall (1868-1936) was an eclectic, multidisciplinary Scottish artist who experimented with painting, illustration, etching, printmaking, and wallpaper design. He is particularly known for his book illustration, superbly exemplified here. His illustrations and designs capture a transitional period in the late 1800s, combining elements found in both the established Arts and Crafts style and the burgeoning Art Nouveau style, with densely decorated borders reminiscent of publications from the Kelmscott Press and delicate, flowing lines akin to those of Aubrey Beardsley and Harry Clarke. The resulting darkly ethereal atmosphere pairs perfectly with Keats' tale of ghosts and doomed love.