Beautiful Leather Bound Books

London: John Murray, 1813. 3 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A superb set, fresh from an English Country House, of this scarce history in Regency tree calf with gilt pallets and fine title labels. Speckled edges. With an armorial bookplate and the neat ink former owner's name at the head of the title pages, 'James F. Leitch'. Some scuffing and superficial scratches, overall a lovely set of this history in English, translated from the French.

London: John Van Voorst, 1841. Full calf, 8 1/2 inches tall. Full early Victorian calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and dense gilt tooling to the panels. The spine is faded to gold, overall a delightful binding on a work of Natural History more whimsical than scientific. The engravings, in particular are particularly charming.

London: Virtue and Co., 1888. 4 volume set, 10 3/4 inches tall. A handsome set of this popular history in a Victorian half calf with wide gilt raised bands, label and gilt and blind pallets. Some rubbing. With full page engraved plates and engraved vignettes to every page.

London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1816. 4 Volumes, 8 1/2" tall. A splendid half calf binding with all the typical Regency features on a smooth back. With gilt, inked and blind bands and an elaborate center tooling and a curious blind crest framing the volume number. Speckled edges. Each volume covers various centuries, and a fifth volume was published at a later date. This history is rarely found in such good condition.

London and Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1892. 25 volume set, 8 1/4 inches. A very smart set of the Dryburgh Edition of the Waverley novels in a half morocco binding in the Art Nouveau style. With two gilt raised bands framing the title and superb floral gilt tooling. Gilt top edges. Slight variation in the colour of the spines, but still a very good looking set of this well illustrated edition of Sir Walter Scott's great series of novels.

London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly, 1876. 2 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A splendid Victorian full grain calf with gilt raised bands, contrasting twin red labels and highly ornate gilt tooling to the panels. Twin gilt and single fillet frame the straight grain on the boards. A classic history of the extraordinary Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici, the future Pope Leo X in a striking binding.

Oxford: University Press, 1909. Full calf, 7 inches tall. A beautiful 'Oxford Binding' with gilt raised bands, floral tooling to the panels and a gilt fillet framing the tree calf boards. With an ink previous owner's name dated 1913 on the first blank. A fine anthology 'Being 1150 Poems and Extracts by 300 Authors' covering over 600 years, in a delightful Edwardian tree calf.

London: Methuen & Co., 1896. 7 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A really elegant Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands and extra gilt panels around an 'Eagle of Jove (Aëtos)' centre tool. Three gilt fillets frame the boards, the upper boards bearing the gilt blocked crest of Oriel College, Oxford. Gilt dentelles and all edges. With the armorial bookplate of Harold Hamilton Broadmead of Enmore Castle. An exceptionally clean and smart set of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall', one of the greatest histories ever written.

Edinburgh & London: James Nichol & James Nisbet, 1853. 2 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A very smart Victorian pink full calf by Bickers, with gilt raised bands, twin labels and fine gilt tooling to the panels. A readable edition 'With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes' by Gilfillan. Slight rubbing, but a clean set in excellent condition of the works of one of the greatest 17th century English poets.

Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1926. Full calf, 7 inches tall. A superb full calf binding by Riviere with gilt raised bands, twin labels, ornate floral gilt tooling to the panels dentelles and all edges gilt. The finely decorated boards combine gilt tooling on a ground of speckled and plain calf. A splendid anthology in a beautiful binding.

London: Charles Black, 1903. Half vellum, 9 inches tall. An Edwardian nostalgic view of England in a superb half vellum binding with gilt raised bands, large label and fine gilt floral tooling with a red calf petal onlay by Henry Young of Liverpool. With 80 full page colour plates. With light foxing and a neat previous owners ink name on the first blank. A lovely copy of this charming evocation of days gone by.

London: Chapman & Hall and Henry Frowde. N.d. c. 1920. 20 volume set, 6 3/4 inches tall. A complete set bound in full leather with gilt bands, titles and centre tools and a blind 'Cambridge panel' on the boards. Red ribbons. Gilt top edges. Dating from the early twentieth century this edition is on india paper and with a good size type is perfectly readable. Profusely illustrated throughout by Cruikshank, 'Phiz' and others. From the library of the great collector James Duncan and with his bookplate. This edition is most unusual complete and in pristine condition.

London: Longmans, Green, Reader, & Dyer, 1877. 2 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. A great history in a classic Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels fine floral gilt tooling to the panels. There is a gilt prize block on the upper boards and a 'prize bookplate' on the inner paste down of volume 1. This is a popular edition of this history which covers the period "from the Accession of James the Second" to the Reign of Queen Victoria, and, as such, has very small type. Scratch on the lower board of the first volume but still a lovely looking set.

London Hutchinson & Co. and Stanley, Paul & Co., 1903-1914. 13 volume collection, 8 1/2 inches tall. A good looking Edwardian half morocco by the great London firm of bookbinders, Sangorski and Sutcliffe, for Brentano's of New York. With gilt raised bands, neat gilt tooled panels around a fleure des lys centre tool and gilt top edges. There is rubbing and a certain blotchiness to the spines, but this a still a very presentable collection of some very scarce and highly entertaining titles, in fact we couldn't find another run of these works. Illustrated throughout. Andrew C.P. Haggard was the brother of the immensely successful novelist H. Rider Haggard.

London: Cadell and Moxon, 1834. Full morocco, 8 inches tall. A superb early Victorian full hard grain morocco binding by the great firm of Hayday with the following inscription in pencil on the paste down endpaper: "Bound in prize leather, Exhibited at the Great Exhibition, Hyde Park 1851". With raised bands, fine ornate gilding around a single 'Aldine' vine leaf. A series of gilt rolls and fillets frame the Grecian Urn device on the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Armorial bookplate. Roger's poetry is mostly remembered for the fine engraved vignettes by Turner and others in this edition rather than for its artistic merit. Slight foxing, as usual.

Anvers: P.Tessaro, c.1850. Half morocco, 10 1/4 inches tall. A rather splendid binding with elaborate gilding in the Cathedral style on the smooth spine. With the following inscription on the first blank: "A Monsieur J.P. Willeumier hommage de l'auteur E. Le Poittevin de la Croix". Slightly rubbed, foxing to the preliminaries, then clean. In the original French.

London: Sherwood, 1825. 2 Volume set, 9 1/2" tall. A later beautiful full crushed Morocco by Ramage with gilt raised bands and superb gilt tooling to the panels. Gilt corner tools and fillets frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and top edges, and the book plate of Joseph Turner. Embellished with 71 witty hand coloured aquatints, 2 engraved title pages and many engraved vignettes. A wonderful set of this highly entertaining work.

London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860: 2 Volume set, 8 3/4" tall. An elegant Victorian full calf binding with raised bands and floral gilt tooling framing the panels. Corner tools, twin fillets and one blind fillet frame the boards. Portrait. A very handsome set of these great essays.