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London: John and Josiah Boydell, 1802. 9 volume set, 17 inches tall. A magnificent full Georgian morocco binding with wide gilt raised bands, splendid gilt tooling in the panels and on the boards, typical of the period. Gilt dentelles and all edges. With the armorial bookplate of Charles Augustus Wild. Most unusually there is absolutely no splitting to the joints, no repairs and no loss. There are dents and abrasions to the boards but overall a spectacularly fine copy. Embellished with 95 engraved tissue guarded plates, making a total of 97 with the portraits. There is a degree of foxing to the plates, as usual. "A Magnificent national edition, in which splendour of production was to go hand in hand with correctness of text" Updike.

Stuttgart und Tübingen: J. G. Cotta'scher Verlag, 1850. 30 volumes bound in 15, complete, 9 inches tall. A magnificent set in extraordinary Spanish calf, not signed but bound by White of Piccadilly in the middle of the 19th century. With gilt raised bands, twin labels and glorious gilt tooling to the panels. Triple gilt fillets framing the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. A superb set of some of the most influential works of the late 18th and 19th centuries, in their original German in a fabulous binding in pristine condition.

London: John Bell, 1785-1788. 38 volumes, 5.5 inches tall. Full straight grain dark blue morocco with gilt bands, titles, dentelles and all edges. Tiffany bookplates. Some slight foxing to the plates but generally very clean. Engraved frontispieces, title pages and plates throughout. Although this celebrated Bell's Edition first appeared in 38 volumes it is very unusual to find it in this form, with each volume bound individually, rather than with every 2 or 3 volumes bound together. There is no splitting or loss at all. An absolutely exceptional set.

(Paris) Lutetiae Parisiorum: Societatum Graecarum Editionum, 1625. Full morocco, 16 inches tall. A truly spectacular tall set of this celebrated work in very fine early 18th century French morocco. With gilt raised bands, twin olive labels and exceptional gilt panels. All edges gilt. Greek text with parallel Latin translation. Some marks and scratches to the boards but no splitting or loss. With the signature of the Earl of Buckinghamshire on the reverse of the free endpaper and the bookplate of John William Bund Willis-Bund.
Xenophon was one of the great ancient Greek philosophers and also an historian, soldier and mercenary and famed student of Socrates. He is still considered an important voice when considering leadership and power.

London John Murray, 1857. 6 volume set, 9 inches tall. A fabulous full Spanish calf with gilt raised bands, triple labels (including the volume number bottle green rondelles) and elegant gilt tooling to the panels. The boards are framed within a double fillet and corner tools. Gilt dentelles. With the binder's ticket of Willis and Sotheran. With the armorial bookplate of Edward Nicholas Hurt. A stunning set in pristine condition.

Nella Stamperia De Romanis, 1815-1817. 4 volume set, 11 inches tall. A magnificent straight grain morocco by J. Clarke, one of the finest binders in Georgian London. With gilt raised bands, elegant gilt tooling to the panels and boards. All edges gilt. Portrait and 3 engraved plans. With the armorial bookplate of William Strahan. Considered the greatest poem of the Middle Ages and the most important work in the Italian language. In the original Italian.

London: Charles Knight and Co., 1839. 3 volume set, 9.5 inches tall. A wonderful full Spanish calf by J.Leighton of Brewer Street with raised gilt bands and stunning extra gilt panels. The boards are framed within sumptuous gilt rolls and fillets. With gilt dentelles and all edges. With the armorial bookplate of Gregory Haines. Illustrated throughout with hundreds of wood engravings from the designs of William Harvey. A fabulous set.

London Pickering, 1825. Full calf, 7.5 inches tall. A ravishing full Spanish Calf binding by Riviere with gilt bands, triple labels and ornate rococo gilt tooling to the spine. The boards are framed within triple gilt fillets. Gilt dentelles and top edges. This set has the bookplate of the Rosenbach Foundation, from which it was released in 1968. A truly beautiful set.

London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, 1895 & 1896. 2 volumes, 15 inches tall. Magnificently bound in full crushed morocco and signed 'Tregaskis Caxton Head'. With tall gilt raised bands and neat geometric gilt tooling with fillets and rolls. There are vellum doublures framed within superb gilt tooling. The free endpapers are also vellum. The dentelles, with gilt tooling and calf onlays, are superb. Top edges gilt. Limited to 500 copies. There are 63 tissue guarded chromo-lithographs in each volume by Griggs, chromo-lithographer to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. There is a minor repair to the head of the Foreign volume. The green of the morocco has faded to a rich brown.

London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1878. 24 volume set, plus uniformly bound bibliography of Thackeray, 10 1/4 inches tall. A magnificent set in half crushed morocco by Zaehnsdorf with gilt raised bands, gilt pallets and all edges gilt. This is the finest De Luxe set of Thackeray's works, limited to 1000 copies, of which this set is number 7. Profusely illustrated by the author with full page plates and vignettes on India paper, the full page plates being on card. This set, obviously unread, is in pristine condition. The uniformly bound bibliography was printed as a companion and supplement to the edition De Luxe, but is very frequently not present.

London: Edward Moxon, 1843-1846. 11 volume set, 8.75 inches tall. A truly splendid full hard grain morocco by one of the greatest binders of the period, White of Pall Mall. With gilt raised bands, unusual dense gilt tooling to the panels and gilt dentelles. All the edges are gilt over marbling. The heraldic crest on both boards is framed within magnificent gilt rolls and individual tooling. The crest with the motto 'Sic Donec' is that of William Tatton Egerton, 1st Baron Egerton of Tatton Park. A wonderful set of the Works of these two early 17th century English playwrights, often considered successors to Shakespeare.

London: Pine, 1733-1737. 2 volumes, 9 inches tall. A wonderful 18th century full crushed morocco, as fresh as the day it was bound. With gilt raised bands and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. Gilt rolls and corner tools to the boards. Dentelles and all edges gilt. The first edition of both volumes. One of the finest examples of 18th century English book production in which the text and illustrations are entirely engraved. With exquisite rococo decoration to almost every page. The bookplate of Hans Furstenberg. The condition of the binding and text is pristine. In the original Latin. A remarkable set.

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1903. 16 volume set, 8.5 inches tall. A handsome half morocco binding by Stikeman with gilt raised bands and elaborate centre tooling to the panels. Gilt top edges. Very, very slight fading, otherwise pristine. Bookplates. Leather bound sets of the great Russian writers are hard to come by, especially in this condition. With an introduction by Henry James and translated by Isabel Hapgood this set contains some of the most influential novels of the 19th century.

London: Richard Bentley, 1840-1875. 23 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A Superb full polished calf by Riviere with gilt raised bands, twin labels, fine gilt tooling to the panels and a triple gilt fillet framing the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Engraved frontispieces. All first editions. A fine set of these celebrated historical works. (Comprising: The Court of England During the Reign of the Stuarts; The Court of England from the Revolution in 1688 to the Death of George II; George Selwyn and his Contemporaries; Memorials of London; Memoirs of the Pretenders; London and its Celebrities; Memoirs of Richard III: Memoirs of George III; Celebrated Etonians). Fine set from the library of an Oxfordshire country house.

London: Longman et al., 1796 and London: Charles Dilly, 1793. 15 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A glorious 18th century tree calf with gilt raised bands, extra gilt floral panels and twin labels. Blue speckled edges. The 3 volume life of Johnson has uniform tooling but different colour labels. Both first volumes have portraits. Some minor scuffing and the outline of the turn-ins showing on the endpapers, otherwise in pristine condition.

London: John Bell, 1779-1782. 100 (of 109) volumes, 5.25 inches tall. A splendid collection of this span of English poets from Chaucer to Churchill in stunning 18th century full calf with gilt bands, triple labels and delicate gilt centre tools. We rarely stock incomplete sets but this title is extremely rare in this condition in such a long run. There are some minor chips and marks but generally in excellent condition. Lacking volumes 24,26,28,29,50,72,74,88 & 104, thus the vast majority of the titles are complete, including the 14 volume set of Chaucer at the very beginning of the collection.