Signed, dated, numbered, and titled in pencil by the artist. Edition 7/12.

A wood engraving depicting the fable of the Cock and the Precious Stone, designed and engraved by Agnes Miller Parker for The Gregynog Press’s 1931 printing of The Fables of Esope. The fable tells the story of a cockerel scratching at the ground for food when he discovers a precious stone. He recognises it’s value but contemplates that that is of little interest to him:

‘"Ho!" said he, "a fine thing you are, no doubt, and, had your owner found you, great would his joy have been. But for me, give me a single grain of corn before all the jewels in the world."’

The fable’s moral is that precious things are without value to those who cannot prize them.

Agnes Miller Parker (1895–1980) was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and studied art at the Glasgow School of Art. She was primarily an illustrator and taught in London during the 1920’s. After marrying she worked at the Gregynog Press with her husband, William McCance, and her former tutors, Gertrude Hermes and Blair Hughes-Stanton. The main body of her work consists of wood-engravings for book illustrations that demonstrate fine draughtsmanship and skilful use of black and white design. She exhibited at the Society of Wood Engravers, of which she was a member and she illustrated books for Gregynog, Golden Cockerel Press and for Limited Editions Club of New York. She illustrated The Fables of Aesop (1931), Through the Woods by H. E. Bates (1936), The Open Air by Richard Jefferies (1949) and her most acclaimed work, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray (1938).

Ex Col: Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley.

Condition: Printed on fine Japon paper. Even toning from previous mount. Tape residue on verso from previous mount.