New and Original Poems, with Notes on Creation and Redemption, Entitled the Footsteps of Jesus, Comprising the History of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden

[1863-64]. [12] [8], 103 [1], interspersed with 56 leaves of vignettes, illuminated poetry, hand-coloured woodcuts, woodcuts depicting various flowers and animals, etc. Stylised page borders. Frontispiece with gilded vignette and hand-coloured woodcut. In its original morocco leather binding with gilded, blocked decorations and lettering. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. (Boards rubbed at edges, and along spine joints, a short crack and minor loss near head of spine). Internally some faint, occasional spotting, else bright, tidy and clean. Shillito himself describes the work as ‘complete in itself’ and suitable for ‘the drawing room table’. His first entry, ‘Poem on Creation’, describes the first seven days of God’s creation. Woman does not arrive until after the ‘antlered deer’ but then Stillito gives full license to his imagination with a section of vivid, semi-erotic poetry illustrative of woman’s love (and perhaps not all that suitable for the drawing table of a respectable household in the early part of the 19th century). LHD locates four copies – British Library, Duke, Oxford and Princeton. Their variety suggests this was somewhat of a bespoke publication. Little is known of Shillito other than he hailed from the Yorkshire area and was, perhaps, an ancestor of the religious writer and poet who shares his name, Edward Shillito (1872-1948). A handsome, well-preserved copy of this scarce collection. 12mo

poetry, christianity, eroticism in religion, bible poetry, creation, Beautiful Books, hand-coloured illustrations,