The Works of Charles Paul de Kock.
London, Boston and Paris: Quimby, 1902-04. 25 volume set, 9 1/4 inches tall. A splendid half morocco complete set bound by The Harcourt Bindery, with 3 raised bands, gilt tooling in the Art Nouveau style with calf onlays representing petals within gilt floral designs. Gilt top edged, the remaining edges deckled. With the armorial bookplate of John C. Wellington. The spines have faded to a rich brown from green giving a very pleasing effect on the shelf. Finely illustrated throughout.
Charles de Kock was a prolific and immensely popular French novelist in the first half of the 19th century, he had many admirers in the English speaking world, including Thackeray, Macaulay and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. His fundamentally good natured novels, full of rollicking comic vigour, painted a good picture of the life and amusements of the people of Paris and the countryside from around 1825 to 1845. A most attractive set in English.