YEATS, Jack B[utler].
A Little Fleet. Verses Supplied by the Fleet Poet [John Masefield].
This perfect little book celebrates Jack B. Yeats’ joy in model boats, which he and John Masefield sailed in the Gara stream near Masefield’s house in Devon. In one of the many sales of Yeats family materials, this one at Sotheby’s in 2017, there was a good handful of his model yachts and an extraordinary storage case for them decorated with his drawings and prints. Thanks to the generosity of their buyer, they are now in the Model (its name is both coincidence and genius), museum and gallery in Sligo.
Nelson, EM, 1909.28, , cites a printing of 100 copies, of which “less than half” were hand-coloured. This is a very good uncoloured copy, with the very high-acid paper extremely brittle and browned, resulting in slight fraying.
