By Christopher Morley, apparently the printer's (James S. Bates) own copy of a rare Morley item, which was printed in an edition of eighteen copies on 18th Century handmade paper with an original deckle edge obtained from booksellers Bernard S. Foster and John Highlands in May 1922. The essay was originally written while Morley was an undergraduate at Oxford where it was read at a meeting of a literary club called "The Midwives" in 1912. "The Apology for Boccaccio" first appeared as an article in Smart Set in 1916. Morley was going to include the essay in Shandygaff but withdrew the corrected galleys before publication because he felt it was too "juvenile." These galleys came to the attention of James Shields, an editor at The Evening Ledger , Philadelphia, in August 1919 where Morley wrote a column under the by-line "Socrates." He left the galleys with Shields who kept them until he could find enough 18th Century paper to privately publish a limited edition of the essay. This collection includes two complete sets of page proofs, one on very thin modern paper with Morley's corrections in pencil and Shields' corrections in ink, and the other on the 18th Century paper secured by Shields for his limited edition.

Informs Shields that he has corrected the proofs in pencil, suggests that they note it was published in Smart Set in 1916 and that the dedication was written by Shields, agrees to the copyright in Shields name and remarks "yours - with sorrow that the little juvenile piece isn't worthier of the trouble you're taking."

Gives Shields permission to reprint Morley's essay on "An Apology For Boccaccio," with proper credit.