Beautiful Leather Bound Books

Edinburgh: Cadell & Co. and London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, 1827. 9 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. A lovely William IV half pink calf binding with gilt raised bands and delicate gilt tooling to the panels, The second edition, published in the same year as the first. Sporadic light foxing. A splendid set of this great biography by the most popular novelist and historian of the period.

London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1831. 3 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A plain but handsome half calf binding with raised bands and twin maroon labels. Lord Canning held senior cabinet posts before becoming Prime Minister in 1827, he also famously fought a duel with Lord Castlereagh, causing outrage that two cabinet ministers had resorted to such a method.

Bordeaux: Chez les Freres Labottiere, 1785. Full morocco, 4 3/4 inches tall. A very finely bound almanac with gilt bands and panels around floral centre tools on a smooth back, a gilt fillet and wide floral roll frame the boards, dentelles and all edges gilt. There is a crease to the leather on the upper board and faint ink stains on the lower. A scarce almanac from just before the French Revolution printed for the Guienne (or Guyenne) region, the old French province which corresponded roughly to the Roman province of Aquitania Secunda and the archdiocese of Bordeaux. Following the French Revolution, the province became the departments of Gironde, Lot-et-Garonne, Dordogne, Lot, Aveyron and much of Tarn-et-Garonne. An exceptionally clean copy in the original French.

Paris: Chez Antoine Boudet. Nicolas Desaint. Avignon : Chez François-Barthelemi Merande. 1767-1773. 17 volume set 10 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent edition in full 18th century French mottled roan with gilt raised bands, contrasting orange and green labels and elegant gilt tooled panels. Pink speckled edges. Embellished with 33 engraved plates (some folding) plus 6 letterpress tables (some folding). From the Library of Madame de Simiane, collected by her at the Chateau de Cirey, but without her bookplates. An exceptionally handsome set in superb condition..

London: John Murray, 1831. Half calf, 6 inches tall. A delightful little William IV half calf with gilt raised bands and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. Engraved frontispiece, further engraved portrait and folding genealogical table. An interesting work describing the family, wives, ministers and generals of Napoleon.

Paris: Chez Ant. Aug. Renouard, 1812. Half calf, 5 1/2 inches tall. A charming little English provincial binding with the binder's ticket of Tomkinson of Uttoxeter (see Charles Ramsden's Book Binders of the United Kingdom, page 164). With gilt bands, label and extra gilt panels on a smooth back. 2 pages of prints. In the original French.

London: Cadell et al., 1841-1846. 17 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A magnificent Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and very fine, dense and bright gilt tooling to the panels. Twin gilt fillets frame the boards. Portraits of Hume and Smollett. With the armorial bookplate of Ramsey Abbey. The first 6 volumes cover the 'History of England' from the 'Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688' by David Hume. The next four volumes are a continuation by Tobias Smollett 'From the Revolution to the Death of George the Second'. The concluding seven volumes, by T.S. Hughes, cover the period from 'The Accession of George III., 1760, to the Accession of Queen Victoria, 1837'. A beautiful looking set of this great history.

Paris: Librairie Borell, 1898. Quarter morocco, 5 1/2 inches tall. Delightful little volume in a pretty binding with two gilt raised bands and delicate gilt tooling to the spine. Gilt top edge. The charming full page illustrations by J. Wagrez are repeated 'Hors-Texte'. A retelling of the myth of Biblis, who after falling in love with her twin brother Caunus, follows him across Greece, until grief-struck she is turned into a spring, or fountain. In French.

London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, c. 1860. Full morocco, 8 1/2 inches tall. A superb example of this edition in full hard grain morocco with twin raised bands and blind fillets. Slight rubbing to the raised bands and head cap, but overall in excellent condition. There is half a page of family register in ink before the New Testament. The fully functioning clasps are unusually ornate with bright red 'pads' under the brass. Pink edges. With separate title pages for the Old Testament, New Testament and the Psalms of David.

London, Paris & New York: Offices Of The Studio , 1901. Half morocco, 12 inches tall. A pristine copy bound in quarter straight grain morocco with raised bands, twin labels and seasonal mistletoe gilt centre tooling to the panels. With original heavy paper wrappers bound in. With many fine full page illustrations by the finest illustrators of the day. A superb copy of this Studio 'Special Winter Number' of 'The Studio' 1900-1901.

Paris: Rue Sainte-Anne, 1900-1901. Half morocco, 11 1/2 inches tall. In a splendid half orange morocco with appropriate gilt tooling featuring Pan and Cupid and an ornate label. The shoulders are rubbed and there is some staining to the covers but no splitting or loss. 63 consecutive issues from volume no.1, 20th October 1900, to volume no. 63, 28th December 1901. 1060 pages, each one illustrated with up to 6 cartoons. The Illustrators include Picasso (Ruiz); Petitjean; Alber Guillaume; Roubille; Willete; André Rouveyre; Ferdinand Bac; Henri Gerbault and Préselan. There is a single risqué theme to every cartoon! A very nice run of this famous publication in a lovely binding.

London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1882-3. 12 volume set, 6 1/2 inches tall. A delightful set in late Victorian full vellum, rarely found in this condition. Bound with a smooth back with titles in black and red. Gilt top edges, the remaining edges untrimmed. Finely printed on hand-made paper. A splendid complete set of the Bard's great works, including the Sonnets.

London: John Murray, 1816; 1818; 1814; 1816; 1817; 1816. Full morocco, 8 1/2 inches tall. A very handsome full 'Romantic' straight grain morocco binding from the Regency period from the library of the Duke of Northumberland, bearing the armorial bookplate of Hugh Percy. Bound with dense blind tooling to the raised bands, panels and boards. With gilt titles, fillet framing the boards and all edges. Some rubbing to the shoulders but no splitting or loss. A clean collection of first and early editions in a fine binding of the period.

London: Bradbury & Evans, 1850. 2 volume set, 9 inches tall. A superb tree calf binding by the great firm of Hayday with gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels and contrasting labels. A striking gilt roll frames the boards. Illustrated by Thackeray himself with vignettes and full page engraved plates throughout. Light foxing. The classic tale of a young English gentleman, Arthur Pendennis, born in the country who sets out for London to seek his place in life and society encountering a satirical picture of human character and aristocratic society.

Milan: Classici Italiani, 1806. Half vellum, 8 1/2 inches tall. A bright half vellum binding with a striking red label and an extra gilt smooth back. Slightly grubby boards and light foxing. Portrait. This is the masterpiece of the extraordinary Tassoni, the late 16th and early 17th century Italian poet. La Secchia Rapita , (in English: 'The Rape of the Bucket' or 'The Stolen Bucket') was hugely popular throughout Europe. In the original Italian.

London: Adam and Charles Black, 1893. 2 volume set, 8 inches tall. An exceptionally nice Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, bright twin labels and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. With the gilt blocked heraldic device for Oriel College, Oxford on the upper boards. With the armorial bookplate of Edward Seymour Forster, the famous Greek classicist and scholar, and a neat prize inscription to him on the first blank. A superb set on this great study on the classic Greek poets.

London: Cassell & Company, 1887 - Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, 1917. 45 volumes, 5 1/2 inches to 8 inches. An extraordinary and unique set of first editions of works by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, also known as 'Q', all in uniform beautiful half morocco bindings by Zaehnsdorf. With raised bands and glorious floral gilt tooling in the Art-Nouveau style. Many have their original cloth covers bound in. All have the bookplate of Charles Plumptre Johnson. Arthur Quiller-Couch was a Cornishman and prolific novelist and poet. In 1887 he published 'Dead Man's Rock', a romance in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. He continued to write popular novels and poetry as well as celebrated anthologies of poetry and Fairy-Tales throughout the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. A unique collection, in superb bindings, in absolutely pristine condition.