Morocco Bindings

London: G. Virtue, 1830. Full morocco, 9 1/2 inches tall. A pristine copy in glorious full morocco by Riviere with gilt raised bands and wonderful gilt centre tools indicative of our heroes dissolute adventures in London, playing cards, Champagne bottles and dancers. The boards are framed within gilt corner tools and triple fillets. Gilt dentelles and top edge. Embellished with all 36 hand coloured aquatints from designs by Robert Cruikshank. This is a magnificent copy of this hilarious work from the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey.

London Cadell and Davies, 1820. 2 volume set, 9 3/4 inches tall. A fabulous full crushed morocco by one of the greatest Parisian firms of the 19th century, Chambolle-Duru. With gilt raised bands, superb gilt tooling to the panels and triple fillets framing the boards, wide gilt dentelles and all edges. With the bookplate of M.C.D.Borden. This is the celebrated Stothard edition with all 22 engraved plates called for, bound with an extra 25 plates. Very slight loss of some gilding but a beautiful and unique copy of one of the most popular and influential English novels of the 18th century.

London: John and Arthur Arch, 1820. 2 volume set, 9 3/4 inches tall. A spectacular Regency full straight grain morocco binding with wide elaborately gilt tooled raised bands and superb and complex gilt and blind tooling to the boards. Very fine wide dentelles and all edges gilt. Faint signs of the removal of a bookplate in both volumes, very slight rubbing minor foxing to the plates and tissues. With all 50 full page engravings called for. A charming well illustrated work in an exceptional binding of the highest quality.

London: William Miller, 1801. 2 volume set, 9 3/4 inches tall. A spectacular and beautiful Regency full morocco binding in sparkling condition. With superb and unusual gilt tooling to the wide raised bands and blind and gilt tooling to the panels. A series of superb rolls and fillets, both gilt and blind, frame the straight grained boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges, with deep squares. Pink end papers with the bookplate of Sir William Augustus Fraser of Ledeclune and Morar. 2 engraved vignettes to the title pages, a double page map and, most unusually all 32 aquatints, hand-coloured. A wonderful set.

Paris: D'Heran, 1807. 5 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A pristine and beautiful Georgian full crushed morocco bound set by A. Tarrant with gilt raised bands, delicate gilt tooled floral designs to the panels and contrasting twin green labels. Twin gilt fillets and pomegranate corner tools frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and top edges. With the morocco bookplate of Charles Rugge Price, the bookplate of Sir David Salomons and an ink inscription on the first blank. Portrait and plates after Moreau and another series by Giradet on india paper added. A splendid set of the works of one of the greatest French dramatists of of 17th-century France and a great figure of Western literature.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1816. 3 volume set, bound in 6, 10 inches tall. A magnificent Georgian binding in full crushed morocco by J. Mackenzie Bookbinder to the King with raised bands and superb extra gilt tooling to the panels. A smart series of gilt fillets frame the boards. Gilt dentelles on the unusually deep squares. With the armorial bookplate of Joseph Neeld. The binding which almost glows, and text are in pristine condition. A splendid set of this great seventeenth century history in defence of Henry VIII's reformation of the English Church and destruction of the monasteries.

Paris: Morizot, 1863. Full red morocco, 10 1/2 inches tall. A spectacular binding by Jean-Baptiste Tinot with gilt raised bands and delicate gilt tooling with green calf onlays to the panels and boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. First edition with 20 steel engraved portraits with somewhat browned tissues. This work celebrates the lives of 20 famous 18th century women, including Madame de Pompadour, Madame du Chastelet and Marie-Antoinette. With a couple of marks to the binding and a little foxing to the plates but overall a fine and impressive binding. In the original French.

London: William Pickering, 1825. 5 volume set, 7 3/4 inches tall. A very unusual Victorian full orange straight grain morocco for Sotheran of Piccadilly with gilt raised bands and gilt pallets framing the panels and rolls the boards. Gilt dentelles and top edges. Armorial bookplates. A beautiful set of the Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, most famous for 'The Faerie Queene', one of the greatest of all English poets.

London: Henry Frowde, 1912. Full morocco, 8 1/2 inches tall. With the stamps of Morrell and also of Truslove and Hanson of Sloane street, luxury booksellers, book binders and acted as London agents for the State Library of New South Wales. Bound with gilt raised bands and very fine and ornate gilt tooling to the panels and boards highlighted with tiny green calf onlays. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Gordon was the first Australian poet to receive overseas recognition, though not before his tragically short life had ended.

London: Oxford University Press, 1912. Full morocco, 7 1/2 inches tall. An elegant, most good looking binding signed by Morrell and by Truslove and Hanson of Sloane Street who were luxury book sellers, book binders and acted as London agents for the State Library of New South Wales. Bound in full crushed morocco with gilt raised bands and very fine and delicate gilt tooling to the panels and boards with tiny green calf onlays. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Portrait. One blank has been neatly removed. Gordon was the first Australian poet to achieve considerable recognition overseas, though his tragically short life ended before he was able to enjoy this.

London: Vernoe and Hood et al., 1804. Full morocco, 10 3/4 inches tall. A beautiful copy bound at the beginning of the 19th century with twin raised bands and fine and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. The boards are framed in a splendid series of gilt rolls and fillets. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Embellished with 24 full page engravings. A sparkling tall copy of this classic law book which includes "Historical and Descriptive Sketches Relative to their Original Foundation, Customs, Ceremonies, Buildings, Government, &c. &c. With a Concise History of The English Law".

London: Constable and Company, 1909. Full morocco, 7 3/4 inches tall. A very neat binding by Zaehnsdorf with gilt raised bands, framed gilt panels and ornate gilt tooling to the boards within a series of gilt fillet panels. Gilt dentelles and top edge. Before establishing himself as a very successful novelist Meredith's first emphasis was as a romantic poet, Oscar Wilde described his poetry as "chaos illumined by brilliant flashes of lightning".

London: Gulielmus Pickering, 1831. 2 volume set, 4 1/8 inches tall. A wonderful full crushed morocco by Holloway. With raised bands, blind pallets and gilt Aldus leaves in the panels. The boards have a blind panel with gilt Aldus leaves as corner tools. Gilt dentelles and all edges. A delightful small set printed by William Pickering with miniscule type, in the original Greek.

London: Routeledge, Warne, and Routledge, 1862. 2 volume set, 9 1/2 inches tall. A rather magnificent full morocco with gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels and superb ornate gilt tooling around a heraldic crest to the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Double column. Engraved portrait of Shakespeare, engraved title page, full page engravings of scenes from Shakespeare's Plays and 45 full page extra illustrated engravings of Shakespeare's heroines. Some rubbing to the binding, loss of both free end papers and slight foxing to the tissues and portraits but still an impressive set.

London: Baldwin, Cradock et al., 1818. Full morocco, 6 1/2 inches tall. A delightful little Regency full straight grain morocco with gilt raised bands, blind bands and extra gilt tooling to the panels. A series of gilt rolls and blind fillets frame the gilt and blind lozenge on the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. With charming little crude engraved vignettes throughout. Shoulders slightly rubbed. The Sanskrit animal fables of Panchatantra date from at least as far back as B.C.200, translated into English in the Elizabethan period and by La Fontaine in the 18th Century as the Fables of Bidpai. This had become Pilpay by the time of this edition.

Edinburgh: Printed by Hunter Blair and M.S. Bruce, 1830. 2 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall in sparkling William IV full straight grain morocco by J. Shearer of Stirling. With gilt raised bands and very ornate and unusual gilt tooling to the panels. A series of gilt fillets and rolls frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. There is a neat ink inscription dated 1844 on the first blank. The text block and binding are exceptionally clean and bright.