Search

Paris: Chez Antoine Boudet. Nicolas Desaint. Avignon : Chez François-Barthelemi Merande. 1767-1773. 17 volume set 10 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent edition in full 18th century French mottled roan with gilt raised bands, contrasting orange and green labels and elegant gilt tooled panels. Pink speckled edges. Embellished with 33 engraved plates (some folding) plus 6 letterpress tables (some folding). From the Library of Madame de Simiane, collected by her at the Chateau de Cirey, but without her bookplates. An exceptionally handsome set in superb condition..

London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, c. 1860. Full morocco, 8 1/2 inches tall. A superb example of this edition in full hard grain morocco with twin raised bands and blind fillets. Slight rubbing to the raised bands and head cap, but overall in excellent condition. There is half a page of family register in ink before the New Testament. The fully functioning clasps are unusually ornate with bright red 'pads' under the brass. Pink edges. With separate title pages for the Old Testament, New Testament and the Psalms of David.

London: John Murray, 1816; 1818; 1814; 1816; 1817; 1816. Full morocco, 8 1/2 inches tall. A very handsome full 'Romantic' straight grain morocco binding from the Regency period from the library of the Duke of Northumberland, bearing the armorial bookplate of Hugh Percy. Bound with dense blind tooling to the raised bands, panels and boards. With gilt titles, fillet framing the boards and all edges. Some rubbing to the shoulders but no splitting or loss. A clean collection of first and early editions in a fine binding of the period.

London: The Villon Society, 1890. 6 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. In a very smart half crushed morocco with raised bands and neat gilt framed panels, gilt top edges, the remainder untrimmed. This is the first English complete set of the novels, or novellas, of this extraordinary 16th century Italian writer on whose stories several of Shakespeare's plays were based, most famously, 'Much Ado about Nothing', 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Twelfth Night'. This work was published in a small edition on hand-made paper by Private Subscription and for Private Circulation only owing to the sexually explicit and outrageous nature of the tales. The set is not numbered. A splendid and scarce set.

Not known c.1890. Full vellum, 6 1/2 inches tall. A wonderful Florentine illuminated binding with elaborate manuscript illumination around a raised gold leaf initial to the upper board and manuscript decoration to the spine, lower board and title page. This is probably the nicest Florentine vellum binding of its type that we have ever seen, being in superb condition with no repair or touching up, a vellum blank and decorated title page replacing the printed title page and being a great title, in English.

London: John Murray, 1835. 2 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A very good looking Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and handsome gilt tooling to the panels. Triple blind fillets frame the boards. Speckled edges. With the armorial bookplate of Charles Finch Foster of Anstey Hall in Trumpington. The engraved portrait is foxed, the rest of the text and further engravings are all clean. With fine engraved portraits throughout. Samuel Butler's great 17th century satirical mock-heroic poem, inspired by Cervantes' 'Don Quixote', was written just before the restoration of Charles II. The plot is one of continuous humiliation for Hudibras, one of Cromwell's knights in the New Model Army.

London: F.C. and J. Rivington, 1823. Full calf, 5 inches tall. A delightful little Georgian full calf binding with wide gilt raised bands, superb extra gilt panels and a series of gilt and blind fillets and rolls framing the boards. The neat previous owners name, "Anne Sandars", dated 1827 on the first blank. A superb little edition of two highly influential and, in their day, very popular 18th century poets in pristine condition.

London: John Bumpus, et al., 1822. Full morocco, 6 inches tall. A rather splendid binding with wide gilt raised bands, gilt, blind and inked tooling to the panels. A very smart gilt roll with inked thistle corner tools frames the boards. All edges gilt. With the armorial bookplate of Robert Williams of Bride Head in Dorset. There is a stain to the engraved portrait and slight darkening of the spine, otherwise clean. A delightful little copy of the works of this great Scottish 18th century poet.

London: John Van Voorst, 1837. Full calf, 8 1/2 inches tall. Full early Victorian calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and dense gilt tooling to the panels. The spine is faded to gold, overall a delightful binding on a work of Natural History more whimsical than scientific. Illustrated with nearly 200 engravings in the text.

London: Scott, Webster, & Geary, 1839. 4 volume set, 9 inches tall. In a magnificent Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and superb extra-gilt tooling to the panels. Twin gilt fillets frame the boards. With an engraved frontispiece and 22 engraved portraits. Slight foxing to the plates and the preliminaries, otherwise clean. From the library of George Capron of Southwick Hall. An extremely smart set of this classic history of the Reformation of the Church of England by this great historian, philosopher and theologian.

London: John Van Voorst, 1839. Full calf, 8 1/2 inches tall. Full early Victorian calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and dense gilt tooling to the panels. The spine is faded to gold, overall a delightful binding on a work of Natural History which is rather more whimsical than scientific. Embellished with more than 40 woodcuts.

London: Cadell and Davies et al., 1807. 124 volume set bound in 61 volumes, 5 1/2 inches tall. A remarkable survival of the complete set of 124 volumes, here bound in 61, (with 2 volumes, occasionally 3, bound together). In a simple Regency half red straight grain morocco, with gilt titles, pallets and tiny centre tools. Contrast this set with our other complete set (5955), shown in the image of the complete run, which is bound in an elegant Regency tree calf. There are some marks and rubbing to some volumes but overall they are in excellent condition with no splitting or loss and the text blocks, including the engravings, are exceptionally clean. Each work has a fine engraved frontispiece and engraved title pages. Not many complete sets have survived of this great anthology.

London: Virtue and Co., 1888. 4 volume set, 10 3/4 inches tall. A handsome set of this popular history in a Victorian half calf with wide gilt raised bands, label and gilt and blind pallets. Some rubbing. With full page engraved plates and engraved vignettes to every page.

London: John Murray, 1835. 2 volume set, 8 1/2" tall. A very fine early Victorian full diced calf, with wide gilt raised bands, twin labels and splendid extra gilt panels. A single gilt fillet and blind corner tools frame the boards. Embellished with portrait, 2 engraved title pages and 38 engraved plates. A fine edition with notes by Treadway Russel Nash.

London: J. M. Dent & Co., c.1900. Full morocco, 5 3/4 inches tall. A wonderful example of one of Ramage's luxurious full morocco bindings (see our extensive selection), in pristine condition. With gilt raised bands, extraordinary extra gilt tooling to the panels and boards. With wide gilt doublures, watered silk 'end papers', and all edges gilt. Portrait and decorated title page. From the recently dispersed library of a Dorset Country House.

London: Richard Bentley, 1834. Full Calf, 8 1/2 inches tall. A most unusual early Victorian full calf binding by E. Watson of Marylebone High Street, and with their ticket. With raised bands, gilt pallets and neat geometric gilt tooling. Gilt corner tools and double fillets frame the boards. Ink inscription on the front free endpaper. A very clean copy of the second edition of this travelogue by the writer and art critic best known for his 'Gothic Novel' "Vathek".

Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1877-79. 6 volume set, 9 inches tall. A superb late Victorian full straight grain morocco binding by Kerr & Richardson with gilt raised bands, delicately gilt framed panels and a gilt bust of Burns in the top panels. Twin gilt fillets frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. The text block is exceptionally clean. Profusely illustrated with portraits, plates and vignettes. A first edition of the the great William Scott Douglas edition in which the poems are arranged chronologically and in which the text and notes are the most complete and correct. A splendid set of this great edition in a fine binding by a great firm of Glasgow binders.

London: T. Longman, B. Law et al., 1796. 2 volumes bound in 1, 11 1/4 inches tall. A magnificent large quarto in full 18th century speckled calf with raised bands, gilt pallets and a most attractive label. Some marks and scuffs to the binding but no loss or splitting. An exceptionally clean copy of Boyer's Royal French and English Dictionary.