Romola.
London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1880. 2 volume set, 10 3/4 inches tall. Extraordinary half morocco by Hawes of Cambridge with wide gilt raised bands, ornate gilt tooling to the panels and gilt top edge. Very unusually a full page bookplate has been bound in to both volumes, that of Alfred Percy Allsopp. This set is number 300 of a limited edition of 1000 copies. Smith, Elder & Co. produced deluxe well illustrated limited editions in this tall format of the works of several great novelists including Dickens, Thackeray, Smollett and Fielding but this single title is as far as they got with Eliot. Profusely illustrated by Sir Frederick Leighton on India paper laid down. A pristine copy of her great historical novel set in 15th century Florence at the time of the Renaissance.