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Bruxelles: Paul Lacomblez, 1914. Full morocco, 13 inches tall. A truly magnificent binding in pristine condition by Paul Affolter with gilt raised bands, superb gilt tooling with onlays to the panels and framing the boards. Wide gilt dentelles and watered silk doublures and free endpapers. Number 50 of 75 copies on 'japon imperial' with an extra suite of colour plates. In the original felt lined and leather trimmed slipcase also signed by Affolter. Based on an obscure 16th century romance, Coster's masterpiece tells of the adventures of a Flemish prankster, Thyl Ulenspiegel, during the wars of the Reformation in the Netherlands and became popular all over the world.

Birmingham: Printed by John Baskerville for J. and R. Tonson, 1761. 3 volume set, 9 inches tall. An exquisite 18th century full calf with gilt raised bands, twin olive labels and superb gilt floral and star tooling to the panels. A triple gilt fillet and corner tools frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Slight rubbing and scuffing and occasional foxing to the preliminaries but overall in excellent condition. With an engraved portrait frontispiece to vol. 1 and a further 5 engraved plates. An exquisitely bound set of the only edition of the works of English poet and Restoration playwright William Congreve. Printed by the fine typographer, printer and publisher John Baskerville, of Birmingham.

Paris: Joseph Barbou, 1755. 2 volume set, 6 inches tall. A beautiful set bound by White of Pall Mall in pristine condition in full crushed morocco. A flat back with gilt bands and delicate tooling in the style of Derome. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Frontispiece and two folding maps. A truly delightful set in the original Latin. From the library of Charles William Vane (formerly Stewart), third Marquess of Londonderry. Vane served with distinction throughout the Peninsula War. His dashing and dandified portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is at the National Portrait Gallery. He amassed magnificent libraries in his various Country Houses.

London: R. Ackerman, 1817. Full calf, 10 inches tall. A superb full calf by Riviere with gilt raised bands, label and dense floral gilt tooling to the panels. A triple gilt fillet and corner tools frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Armorial Bookplate of Marcus Brown-Westhead of Lea Castle. Decorated with hand coloured aquatint frontispiece, vignette on the title page and a further 24 full page plates throughout, all by Thomas Rowlandson.

Paris: Chez Sylvian Sauvage, 1927. Half morocco, 9.5 inches tall. with raised bands and fine gilt tooling with onlays, gilt top edge. This is example V of XX lettered 'examplaires de collaboration'. With splendid illustrations by Andre Dignimont including an original watercolour signed and inscribed to Pierre Macorlan, the celebrated french novelist and songwriter.

London: Strahan and Woodfall, 1792. 6 volume set, 9.5 inches tall. An extraordinary 18th century binding in full sheep with blind bands, splendid triple labels and twin blind fillets framing the boards. With exceptional speckled pink lettering to the edges indicating that this set belonged to the Circuit Library of the Chester Crown Court. There are no other inscriptions and the text is very clean. There has been expert repair to the joints of two of the volumes. We can find no other examples of this style of lettering on the edges. A remarkable set of this scarce work.

London and New York: Chiswick Press, Charles Whittingham and Co., c.1900. 2 volumes, 6 3/4 inches tall. A glorious full morocco binding almost certainly by by The Harcourt Bindery of Boston with gilt raised bands and remarkable floral gilt tooling and onlays to the panels and boards. Wide gilt dentelles frame exquisite green crushed morocco doublures featuring a red rose. Watered silk free endpapers. All edges gilt. These two volumes, containing the works of Thomas Chatterton, were part of a deluxe set, the Crown Edition, of 'The Poets of Great Britain' originally published in 72 volumes. This extra-illustrated set in this splendid binding is believed to be number 1 of 10 such sets. Fine sets of Chatterton's Poetical Works are scarce.

London and New York: Chiswick Press, Charles Whittingham and Co., c.1900. 2 volumes, 6 3/4 inches tall. A glorious full morocco binding almost certainly by The Harcourt Bindery of Boston with gilt raised bands and remarkable floral gilt tooling and onlays to the panels and boards. Wide gilt dentelles frame exquisite green crushed morocco doublures featuring a red rose. Watered silk free endpapers. All edges gilt. These two volumes, containing the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, were part of a deluxe set, the Crown Edition, of 'The Poets of Great Britain' originally published in 72 volumes. This extra-illustrated set in this splendid binding is believed to be number 1 of 10 such sets. A superb set of the works of this great romantic poet.

London: Cadell and Davies, 1807. 2 volume set bound in 3, 10 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent full speckled calf Regency Binding with gilt raised bands, twin labels and delicate tooling to the panels. Blue Speckled edges. With fine folding hand-coloured map. With the Stewart bookplate. Emblazoned with foreign orders and decorations, Stewart was appointed ambassador to Vienna attending, with his brother Castlereagh and Wellington, the congress convened there to determine the future of Europe following the fall of Bonaparte. However, his dissolute behaviour, womanizing (he was widowed in 1812) and preposterous love of display, which earned him the sobriquet of "The Golden Peacock", created more comment (and enjoyment) than his skills of diplomacy. A splendid looking set with a great provenance.

London: Strahan, Rivington et al., 1779. 9 volume set, 9 inches tall. A beautiful 18th century full calf with gilt bands, most unusual twin labels and a sequence of gilt pallets to the panels. A gilt roll frames the boards. Slight splitting but a firm, clean and most attractive set. Containing a genealogical and historical account of all the Peers of England, embellished with 'their Paternal Coats of Arms, Crests, Supporters and Mottoes, curiously engraved on Copper-Plates'.

London: W. Wright, 1820. Full Calf, 9 1/2 inches tall. A superb full mottled calf by Riviere with gilt raised bands, twin labels and fine gilt floral tooling to the panels. A gilt roll and twin gilt fillets frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Embellished with 17 full page hand coloured aquatints and a splendid illustrated title page by Charles Williams. A Lovely copy of this hilarious Doctor Syntax spinoff.

London: Rivington, et al., 1823. 38 volume set, 6 1/2 inches tall. A splendid complete set in a full early Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and very fine gilt tooling to the panels. Speckled edges. There are a couple of small splits, volume I has a split 1 inch long on both sides of the top panel, but the set is perfectly firm and solid and looks exceedingly handsome on the shelf.

London: Macmillan, 1894. Full morocco, 10 inches tall. A stunning full crushed morocco bound by Riviere in 1895 in absolutely pristine condition. With gilt raised bands and exquisite floral gilt tooling to the panels. The boards framed within a triple gilt fillet. Wide gilt dentelles and gilt top edges, the remaining edges untrimmed. This is one of 152 large paper copies. This copy is signed by Hugh Thomson on the title page. The original cloth covers and wraps fot the large paper and ordinary paper editions are bound in. With 76 illustrations by Hugh Thompson who has signed the title page. A wonderful copy of these beautifully illustrated English poems.

aris, Emile Hazan, 1930. Full crushed morocco, 10.5 inches tall. A striking binding with 3 wide gilt raised bands and fine gilt designs to the boards. Wide gilt dentelles and watered silk doublures. Top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. On 'Japon Imperial'. From a limited edition of 833, one of only 7 examples with an original watercolour, this being number 6. Dignimont's wonderful illustrations are in 2 states. In pristine condition housed in a slightly worn slip case.

London: Chapman and Hall, 1846. 3 volume set, 9 inches tall. A stunning full 'Spanish Calf' with gilt bands, twin labels and dense, and most unusual, gilt tooling to the spine. The boards are framed within gilt corner tools and twin fillets. Pink speckled edges. With the armorial bookplate of Christopher Turnor of the the magnificent Stoke Rochford Hall. There is quite heavy foxing, almost completely confined to the portrait and title page of volume I. This is the second, enlarged edition. A splendid set.

London: Ackermann, 1823. 3 volume set, 5 1/2 inches tall. The exquisite miniature edition of 1823 bound in later full calf by Bayntun with gilt raised bands, twin labels, fine gilt tooling to the panels, twin gilt fillets framing the boards, dentelles and all edges gilt. Illustrated with 80 hand-coloured plates by Thomas Rowlandson, including two pictorial title pages, as called for. Brilliant comic satirical verse matched by Rowlandson's equally comic hand coloured aquatints.