Calf Bindings

London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1874. 2 volume set, 8 1/4 inches tall. A stunning dark pink hard grain morocco binding with gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels and magnificent gilt tooling to the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Book plate. Illustrated throughout. A fine set of this classic work by the Dublin born art historian, Mrs. Jameson.

Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1879. 3 volume set, 8 inches tall. A superb crushed morocco by Andrew Grieve of Edinburgh with gilt bands and delightful gilt floral tooling to the panels on a smooth back. Gilt top edges. From a limited to 485 copies. Sir David Lyndsay was a 16th century knight and herald whose poetry is still celebrated today.

Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1826. 8 volume set, 9 inches tall. A superb, if slightly faded, full William IV hard grain morocco with raised bands, gilt titles, dentelles and all edges. With the armorial bookplate of Laurence Currie. Slight rubbing but a very handsome and clean set of Clarendon's great 'History of the Rebellion'.

London: Jones & Co., 1822. Half morocco, 8 1/2 inches tall. A handsome Victorian binding by Murphy of Liverpool, with gilt raised bands, fine gilt tooling incorporating shamrocks in the panels and gilt top edge. With an hilarious hand-coloured frontispiece and 18 further outrageous plates by, amongst others, Henry Alken and William Heath. The binding is slightly faded, but still bright. There is some foxing, occasional creasing and slight grubbiness but overall an unusually good example of this scarce work in the style of Pierce Egan.

London, Paris & Edinburgh: Goupil & Co., 1898. Half morocco, 12 3/4 inches tall. Splendid half morocco by Hatchard with gilt raised bands and impressive regal gilt tooling to the panels. The royal coat of arms is blocked in gilt on the upper boards. Gilt top edge. This is the deluxe edition on Japan Paper, limited to 500 copies, with the large plates in 2 states. With a superb colour frontispiece and further plates, vignettes and ornate initials throughout. A magnificent example of Goupil's luxurious publications.

London: John Fairburn, 1822. Full calf, 9 1/2 inches tall. A sparkling later full calf binding by Tout with gilt raised bands, superb extra gilt tooling to the panels and triple labels. Delicate gilt tooling frames the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. With the armorial bookplate of George Seton Veitch. Original wrapper bound in. Embellished with 21 hand comic hand-coloured aquatints by George Cruikshank and a further 22 wood engravings. This unique copy also contains a tipped in signature of George Cruikshank, a tipped in note by Robert Cruikshank and a tipped in letter of George Bell. Slightly rubbed but still a super copy of the rollicking adventures of a band of young English Gentlemen enjoying life to the full in Paris.

London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1890. Full calf, 8 inches tall. A classic late Victorian tree calf binding by Griffiths with gilt raised bands and exceptional extra gilt panels. With the gilt prize block of Waterloo College on the upper board and their bookplate on the front paste down end paper. Well illustrated throughout. Some light foxing. The title continues "...the Natural History and geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World, under the Command of Captain Fitz Roy, R.N.."

London: G. Virtue, 1830. Full morocco, 10 inches tall. An exceptionally tall copy in a beautiful later full straight grain morocco binding by Sotheran of Piccadilly. With gilt raised bands, a superb boxing centre tool within an ornate cartouche in the panels and the boards, gilt dentelles and top edges, the remaining edges untrimmed. With 2 armorial bookplates. Embellished with all 36 hilarious hand-coloured aquatints from designs by Robert Cruikshank. A pristine example of this great comic work, in which our heroes continue with their debauched adventures around London.

London: Richard Bentley, 1891. 9 volume set, 9 inches tall. A handsome Victorian half calf by Bickers with gilt raised bands, twin labels, ornate gilt centre tools and gilt edges.With the striking bookplate of Dorothy Moulton Mayer. Illustrated with frontispieces, a vignette on the title pages and and engraved portraits. Horatio Walpole the 4th Earl of Orford, creator of the Gothic masterpiece Strawberry Hill House, wrote 'The Castle of Otranto', considered the first Gothic novel. Slightly rubbed but a good looking set.

Edinburgh: John Grant, 1911-12. 12 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. An elegant Edwardian half crushed morocco binding by the great firm of Birdsall with raised bands, delicate centre tools and gilt top edges. This is the first edition of the celebrated Winchester Edition of 1911, with the 2 volumes that appeared in 1912 that include 'Lady Susan', 'The Watsons' and 'The Letters of Jane Austen'. It is not easy to locate sets of the Winchester Edition in this superb condition bound in the period of publication, the majority of sets being offered are in highly inferior 'recent morocco bindings'. A splendid set of these hugely popular works.

Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1879. 3 volume set, 8 inches tall. A neat crushed morocco by Ramage with gilt raised bands and neat gilt floral tooling to the panels. Gilt top edges. From a limited to 485 copies. Sir David Lyndsay was a 16th century knight and herald whose poetry is still celebrated today.

London: Philip Lee Warner Publisher to the Medici Society, 1912. Full morocco, 10 1/4 inches tall. A wonderful and unique binding by Bumpus with raised bands and onlays on the panels. The crushed morocco on the boards is framed with a beautiful gilt border with a green Greek key design and further onlays. Watered silk doublures and all edges gilt. Printed on hand-made Riccardi Paper in a limited edition of 500 copies. With 12 superb illustrations in colour by William Russell Flint. A unique volume, in pristine condition, of Kingsley's great retelling of the Myths and Legends of Greek Mythology.

London: Printed by C. Wittingham for J. Sharpe et al., 1809. 4 volumes, bound in 2, 5 1/4 inches tall. A delightful little set in a full Regency straight grain morocco with gilt raised bands and very fine gilt tooling to the panels. A wide floral gilt roll and blind fillet frame the boards. All edges gilt. All 4 volumes have an engraved frontispiece. Slight rubbing. These volumes also contain Homer's Batrachomuomachia, or, the Battle of the Frogs and Mice as well as his Hymns, Epigrams and Odes, all done into English. Alexander Pope's translation was celebrated during his life and has been ever since, with his use of heroic couplets being the model for all future translations of Homer's epic poem.

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854. 3 volume set, 6 3/4 inches tall. A classic Victorian full calf binding by the great firm of Hayday with gilt raised bands, twin labels and very fine gilt tooling to the panels. Armorial bookplate. Sir James Mackintosh was a politician and liberal philosopher most remembered for his views on the French Revolution.

London: John Murray, 1901. 2 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A beautiful Edwardian full calf binding from the library of Alfred de Rothschild, but without his bookplate. With gilt raised bands, twin labels and fine gilt tooling to the panels. Gilt and blind fillets frame the boards. Foxing to the preliminaries, then pristine. Illustrated throughout. The notorious Lady Sarah Lennox was 'Daughter of Charles, 2nd Duke of Richmond, and successively the Wife of Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, Bart,; and of the Hon: George Napier'. The work also includes 'a short political sketch of the years 1760 to 1763 by Henry Fox, 1st Lord Holland'. A favorite of both King George II and King George III she led a remarkable and scandalous life.

London: G. Bell and Sons, 1910. 2 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. A classic Edwardian full calf binding by Spottiswoode with gilt raised bands, twin labels and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. The tree calf boards have a gilt armorial block and a gilt fillet border. Embellished with 25 maps and plans. A handsome copy of this life of Napoleon Buonaparte.

London & Glasgow: Blackie and Son, 1840. 5 volume set, 6 1/2 inches tall. A very attractive little set in early Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and smart gilt tooled panels. Fine gilt and blind tooling decorate the boards. All edges gilt. Engraved frontispieces and title pages. Popular poet in his day much admired by his peers including Sir Walter Scott. He came from a humble background working as a shepherd, before achieving success as a poet in both English and Scottish.

London: Adam and Charles Black, 1894. Half morocco, 7 1/4 inches tall. An ornate and very fine binding by Zaehnsdorf with the title in a cartouche surrounded by pointillist gilt tooling on a smooth back. Gilt top edge. With the rather foxed 'Arthurian' bookplate upside down on the rear paste down endpaper. Subtitled ...'as Connecting Religion and Science. The Confession of Faith of a Man of Science'. Translated into English from the original German. Haeckel was an extraordinary and flamboyant figure who, amongst many other claims to fame, promoted and popularised Charles Darwin's work in Germany.

London & New York: The Grolier Society, 1909. Full morocco, 9 1/4 inches tall. A remarkable binding with gilt raised bands and floral gilt tooling and green calf onlays in the Art Nouveau style to the panels and boards. Splendid gilt tooled doublures and watered silk free endpapers. Armorial bookplate of Henry von Beyr. Illustrated with 6 etched portraits by C.X. Harris. Signed by the author in an edition limited to 1250 copies of which this is number 2. The spine is faded by the sun and there are a few superficial marks to the blanks and limitation page, and there is some minor scratching to the back board, but overall still a lovely copy.

Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1874. 4 volume set, 8 inches tall. A superb full crushed morocco by the great Edinburgh firm of bookbinders Andrew Grieve. With gilt bands, splendid gilt tooling to the panels and a green label on a smooth back. Triple gilt fillets and corner tools frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and top edges. Illustrated. Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld was a Scottish poet of the late 15h and early 16th centuries whose major literary achievement is the Eneados, a translation of Virgil's Aeneid into Scottish, completed in 1513, it is the first full translation of a major poem from classical antiquity into any modern Germanic language. His translation is faithful throughout. A fine and beautiful set.