London and Edinburgh: T.C. and E.C. Jack, N.d. [1910]

8vo, pp. 458. Original vellum binding lettered and tooled design in gilt. Illustrated dustwrapper. Top edge gilt. Leading and lower edges uncut. Head and foot of spine a little bumped, but a very well preserved copy in a very good dustwrapper with chipping to spine ends and a couple of small closed tears.

First edition of this anthology on the theme of love with selections from poets down the ages, from the Bible to W.H. Davies via Shakespeare, Herrick, Browning and many others.

Arthur Ransome [1884-1967] is best known for the Swallows and Amazon series of children's adventure stories set in the Lake District. But he was also a literary critic and biographer, and a foreign correspondent who covered the Russian Revolution and became a confidante of its Bolshevik leaders.

In 1909 he married his first wife Ivy Walker -- which may explain this less than typical offering from him, published the following year. But the marriage was not a success. In 1924 he married his second wife, Evgenia Shelepina, who had been Trotsky's personal secretary.

Scarce in the dustwrapper.