Morocco Bindings

London: The Villon Society, 1892. Full morocco, 9 inches tall. A rather spectacular binding by Popelin with gilt raised bands and magnificent gilt tooling to the panels and boards, splendid dentelles and top edge gilt. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey, and with the leather bookplate of Rudolf August Witthaus. The book is solid and firm but there is a split to the top inch of leather on both boards. There is an ink inscription facing the half title. This copy is number 124 in a limited edition on hand-made paper. Privately printed 'for private circulation only' due to the scurrilous nature of Villon's verse. François Villion was a Parisian 15th century poet whose poems are sprinkled with mysteries and hidden jokes. They are peppered with the slang of the time and the underworld subculture in which he moved and are also replete with private jokes and full of the names of real people, rich men, royal officials, lawyers, prostitutes, and policemen, from medieval Paris.

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1897. Full morocco, 11 1/2 inches tall. A superb full crushed morocco binding with a smooth spine with fine gilt geometric designs and a series of gilt fillets framing the boards. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. Gilt doublures with beautiful watered silk end 'papers' and gilt top edge. Slight fading to the spine but still a fine bright copy. One of 110 copies, of which this is number 40 printed on Japanese vellum. 12 fine plates by E.R. Hughes. Il Pecorone (The Simpleton) was written as a collection of short stories in the 14th century in the pattern of Boccaccio. One tale is considered the likely basis for Shakespeare's 'Merchant of Venice'. A superb copy of the first English edition of this very scarce work.

London: Humphreys, 1907. Full morocco, 8 1/2 inches tall. An elegant and luxurious full crushed morocco with gilt raised bands, neat gilt tooling around a fleur de lys centre tool. The upper board has the title framed within a series of gilt fillets and a larger fleur de lys corner tool. Gilt dentelles and all edges. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. A fine printing by Humphreys on hand-made paper. The remarkable Gabrielle D'Estrée was, in her short life, mistress to Henry IV of France, and was instrumental in ending the religious wars that had reduced France into chaos during the second half of the 16th Century. Today she is most remembered for a series of extraordinary paintings of her in a bathtub, most memorably tweaking the nipple of her fellow bather, her sister, Julienne-Hippolyte-Joséphine, Duchess of Villars in the Palace of Fontainebleau.

London: Nimmo, 1889. Full morocco, 11 inches tall. A rather magnificent binding by the great firm of Ramage in their luxurious style with raised bands and delicate gilt tooling framing the panels and a fabulous series of elaborate tooling framing the boards around a central are of blind dicing. Wide gilt dentelles and top edge gilt. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. Embellished with 160 illustrations by Paul Avril in the text. There is some smudging to the paper but this is a very fine copy in a beautiful binding. Uzanne, who is scarce in English editions, was a great bibliophile and his literary research unearthed previously unpublished works by Caylus, Besenval, the Marquis de Sade and Baudelaire, amongst many others. His own works include novels and fantasy works such as this work which records the pleasures and experiences of a picturesque life in France during the Belle Époque.

London: Longman et al., 1817. 2 volume set, 7 3/4 inches tall. A superb full crushed morocco by J. Wright, one of the greatest binders of the period. With gilt raised bands, smart labels and extra gilt panels. Gilt dentelles and all edges. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. Vice Admiral Sir John Mennis (or Mennes), was an English naval officer, who went on to be Comptroller of the Navy. He was also considered a wit. His comic and satirical verses, written in correspondence with James Smith, were published in 1656. He figures prominently in the Diary of Samuel Pepys, who reported directly to Mennes at the Navy Office and thought him an incompetent civil servant, but a delightful social companion. Pepys stated that Mennes's skills as a poet and mimic made him the best of company. He describes a memorable evening when Mennes and John Evelyn engaged in a mimicry contest. Mennes's highly entertaining verses first appeared in 1656 as Musarum Deliciæ or the Muses's Recreation. They appear here in a scarce Regency edition.

Oxford, The Clarendon Press: Bensley, Cooke, 1816. Full morocco, 12 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent and remarkable Regency full straight grain morocco with gilt raised bands,and extraordinary gilt tooling to the panels. The boards have a wonderful gilt block of The Church of St. Martin in the Fields on Trafalgar Square and one of the most famous churches in London. This view of St. Martin in the Fields is set within a gilt and blind lozenge, itself within a spectacular gilt border with the repeated corner tool found on the spine. Wide gilt dentelles frame a leather bookplate on which a dedication to the 'Gentlemen of the Vestry' is on the inside of the upper board. A similar bookplate on the inside of the lower board is dedicated to the Revd. Josh. Holden Potts. All edges gilt. There is some rubbing some scuffing, in particular at the head of the top panel and a few minor ink stains. In general this beautiful Book of Common Prayer is in excellent condition.

Amalgamated Cotton Mills Trust Limited, 1920. Full morocco, 11 1/4 inches tall. A fabulous full crushed morocco binding, dated 1920, by Zaehnsdorf. With gilt raised bands and wonderful gilt tooling to the panels with calf onlays and extra gilt tooling of the highest quality to the boards within rolls and red rose corner tools on calf onlays. Wide gilt dentelles on watered silk doublures and free endpapers. All edges gilt. On the doublure is the name of the recipient of this copy, one of 6 especially bound. Each leaf of particularly heavy paper is decorated with lavish and fantastical designs, both screen printing and chromolithography in the Art Deco style. These show mill buildings, workers and machinery within fantasy borders some reminiscent of the manner of Dulac and even Rackham. The very first colour images shows cottons pickers in foreground with a vast mill belching smoke in the background. This extraordinary book is in pristine condition no signs of wear.

London: Thomas Boys, 1820. Full morocco, 9 1/2 inches tall. A superb Victorian binding with gilt raised bands and very fine floral gilt tooling to the panels. Gilt corner tools and triple fillets frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. With an engraved title page and 12 hilarious full page hand coloured plates . With the armorial bookplate of Alexander Lawson Duncan. There is some discolouration on the upper board, otherwise a fine copy of the first edition.
This copy, as with all editions had pp. 39-42, 87-110 and 163-178 omitted, a footnote appears on p. xvi explaining: "The reader will perceive an hiatus after p. 38, another after p. 86, and a third after p. 162. Some digressions occurred in those places on subjects too abstruse to be generally interesting; they have therefore been withdrawn".

Paris: Librairie Plon, 1892. 3 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A splendid full morocco by Birdsall with wide gilt raised bands and very ornate gilt tooling to the panels. Decorative gilt fillets frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Frontispieces. The binding is sound and highly decorative on the shelf with no splitting but there is heavy rubbing and scuffing to the edges. Monogram and coronet on the bookplate. Marbot is celebrated for his memoirs depicting the Napoleonic age of warfare. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Austerlitz before serving in the Peninsular War under Marshals Jean Lannes and André Masséna. He then showed himself to be a dashing leader of light cavalry in the Russian campaign of 1812. After taking part in the Battle of Waterloo alongside Emperor Napoleon I he served a period of exile before returning he was promoted to the rank of maréchal de camp (brigadier general) under King Louis Philippe I. In the original French.