American Sporting Culture and Fine Press Publishing Gray Gallops Trilogy 1929 Derrydale Edition with Paul Brown Illustrations

David Gray

Book

Gray, David. Gallops, 1929 Derrydale Press edition, presents a collection of equestrian sporting narratives rooted in American foxhunting culture and late nineteenth-century leisure traditions. Originally published in 1897, Gray’s work captures the language, customs, and social environment of mounted sport, offering insight into elite recreational practices and rural sporting life in the United States. Issued by Derrydale Press under the direction of Eugene V. Connett, the edition reflects an early twentieth-century effort to preserve and elevate sporting literature through fine press production. The work supports research into equestrian culture, sporting narratives, and the development of American specialty publishing in the interwar period.

Gray, David. Gallops I; Gallops II; Mr. Carteret. New York: Derrydale Press, 1929. Hitchcock edition. Three volumes, one of 750 sets, this copy numbered 159 and signed by the author on the half-title of Gallops I. Octavo. Bound in red cloth with gilt titling on black panels and gilt decoration on front covers. Illustrated by Paul Brown, whose equestrian imagery complements the narrative focus on horse culture and sporting life. Bookplate of Henry Payne McIntosh affixed to the front pastedown of each volume. References include Siegel 28; Frazier G-15-a; and Biscotti, Six Centuries of Foxhunting, p. 163.

Produced during a period when Derrydale Press sought to reissue and canonize American sporting texts, the edition reflects a broader cultural effort to formalize and preserve traditions associated with hunting, riding, and rural sport amid increasing modernization. Connett’s publishing program, influenced by fine press ideals and bibliographic standards, positioned such works as both literary and material artifacts worthy of long-term preservation. Gray’s narratives, combined with Brown’s illustrations, contribute to an understanding of how equestrian culture was recorded and aestheticized for twentieth-century audiences interested in the continuity of sporting traditions. Light wear to bindings; interiors clean with strong impressions; overall in very good condition.

Item #16805

Price: $550.00