Notes: There is no
half-title in any copy examined, and none to be inferred from prelims make-up.
The
half-title page has no type, but its small, softly edged picture of a few trees in a wintry landscape, their shadows stretching to the right lower edge, draws us deeper into the cover's snowy woods.
The signature is on the blank
half-title page, rather than the title page or frontispiece, which is where valuers would expect to see an autograph.
On the verso of the
half-title page is a photographic reproduction of Thompson's "Map of the North West Territory of the Province of Canada" from Archives of Ontario, and, following the index, there are photographic reproductions of five sections of the National Archives of London copy of the same map; the sections are keyed to a map showing from which part of the whole they are taken--although Moreau does not explain why he chose these sections.
There are a few anomalies: because the
half-title shows a Futurist broadside, we expect there is going to be some insightful discussion of this important movement, but it's just window dressing and stands in marked contrast to the Swiss formalism of the book design.
In the commentary he has added on the page opposite the
half-title, he defends more orthodox beliefs.
The text itself is preceded by a title page and, occasionally, by a
half-title page, which has a title in smaller print and/or a small illustration.
The book is inscribed, 'Isabel Swinburne from her affectionate brother Algernon Charles Swinburne' and Swinburne has written 'The poem of poems, which is' over the
half-title 'Christabel'.