The valley of vision : a book of romance, and some half-told tales

"Signed Margaret Armstrong Art Nouveau binding design in gold, red and white of a central biconvex lens-shaped panel containing the titles, with a stem of Madonna Lilies (Lilium candidum) on either side entwined with poppy flowers (Papaver rhoeas) amid a background of what are likely shafts of light emanating from the lens. Spine with titles with lily and acorn motifs in gold. Includes frontispiece and 7 additional black and white illustrations by various artists. A selection of essays written by Van Dyke about the visions that come to us about the meaning of life while we are in the valley of suffering, endurance and self-sacrifice. Written during and after WWI, the book was published after the conclusion of the war with the experiences of the war in mind. Armstrong's design incorporates poppies, representative of the dreams mentioned in many of the stories as well as death (Flanders Fields also comes to mind), with the Madonna Lily representing purity of soul that comes following suffering. Although Armstrong's design for The Valley of Vision was issued relatively late in her career, it is surprisingly scarce - especially so intact - since the white pigment used for the lilies flaked off fairly easily." -- Austin Abbey Rare Books.

Photographs of binding from Watson Library Digital Collections https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll17/id/4927