The Water of the Wondrous Isles by William Morris.

The Kelmscott Press, Upper Mall, Hammersmith, 1897.

One of 250 copies on paper, of a total edition of 256 (6 on vellum). 4to,28.9 x 21.3 x 3.8 cm; pp. [8] + 344. Chaucer type (colophon and transitional passage at the end of each part in Troy type) on Batchelor hand-made paper with (the second version of) the Primrose watermark. Seven full-page woodcut borders, side, corner, half, three-quarter and centre woodcut borders, and numerous woodcut initials (and initial words); chapter and shoulder-titles in red. Original full limp vellum; title gilt on spine. Peterson A45.

The Water of the Wondrous Isles is a fantasy novel, and perhaps Morris is the first writer of modern fantasy to unite an imaginary world with the element of the supernatural, and thus a precursor of much of present-day fantasy literature.