Full Calf

London: James Carpenter, 1807. Full calf, 6 1/2 inches tall. A beautiful Regency mottled calf in pristine condition. With extra gilt tooling on a smooth back with a label and extraordinary mottling to the boards within a fine gilt roll. With the Fothergill bookplate and the stenciled mark of the Earls of Belmore, one of the great Irish titles. Philip John Ducarel was born in Calcutta and became known as the poet of the Forrest of Dean, where he resided for the rest of his life.

London: John Murray, 1887. 2 volumes, 7 inches tall. Smart Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, labels and neat gilt tooling to the panels. Gilt prize blocks to the upper boards and prize paper labels on the paste down end papers. Hugely influential works, Smiles was described as the 'New Plutarch' by George Bernard Shaw. 'Self-Help' was referred to as "the bible of mid-Victorian liberalism" raising Smiles to celebrity status on its publication.

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: John Sharpe, 1825. 2 volumes bound in 1, 5 1/4 inches tall. A charming little Georgian full calf binding with gilt raised bands, label and fine embossed blind tooling to the panels and boards which are framed within triple gilt and blind fillets. All edges gilt. A neat ink inscription is on the first blank from a previous owner, Elizabeth Shyring (?), dated 1829. The 2 engraved frontispieces are foxed, otherwise clean.

London: John Murray, 1850. Full calf, 8 1/2 inches tall. A splendid binding with gilt raised bands, contrasting label and extra gilt panels. Some rubbing, foxing and slight fraying to the fore edge of one plate. With 12 colour plates and vignettes throughout.

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 Murray, 1830. 3 volume set, 6 inches tall. A curious set in full early Victorian diced calf with gilt raised bands twin labels and blind embossed tooling to the panels. With the ink signature of George H. Capron dated 1840, of Southwick Hall. A splendid little set of this scarce title fresh from an English Country House.

London and New York: The London Printing and Publishing Company, 1860. 3 volume set, 11 inches tall. An impressive set in Victorian full diced calf with gilt raised bands, contrasting label and gilt tooling to the panels. Red edges. Some rubbing but with no splitting. Embellished with 7 folding hand coloured maps and 66 engraved views, portraits and maps. The portrait of Lord Raglan appears not to have been bound in. This History gives 'Full Details of the Operations of the Allied Armies'. A very clean and handsome set of this great History of the Crimean War.

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: Fisher, Sons & Co., 1832. 3 volume set, 11 inches tall. A very smart set in William IV full calf bound by D. Batten of Clapham Common, and with their ticket. Bound with gilt raised bands, twin labels, blind pallets to the panels. A blind tooled 'Cambridge Panel' incorporating a lovely blind roll, decorates the boards. A few scratches and scuffs but overall a fine set, unusually clean. With, including the frontispieces and the engraved title page in volume 1, a total of 217 charming engravings.

London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, 1850. Full Calf, 9 1/2 inches tall. A splendid Victorian full calf by Riviere with gilt raised bands, contrasting label and fine gilt tooling to the panels. Triple gilt fillets frame the boards. With the bookplate and signature of Lord Eldon, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain between 1801 and 1806. Double Column. Robert Southey was a great English romantic poet and biographer and a close friend and collaborator of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

London and Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1861; 1864. Nimmo, 1869. 3 volumes, 7 1/2 inches tall. Fine Victorian uniform full calf bindings with gilt raised bands, contrasting twin labels and gilt tooling to the panels by J. Maclaren of Edinburgh. A good looking run of these works by the great Scottish folklorist, paleontologist and geologist, Hugh Miller.

London: Printed at the Chiswick Press, 1874. Full calf, 11 inches tall. A most impressive binding by Riviere with gilt raised bands, orange label and gorgeous gilt tooling to the panels. The boards are framed within a triple gilt fillet. Gilt dentelles and all edges. marks to the boards and foxing to the preliminaries. A finely printed edition, with 4 photographic plates, of these great English 18th century poems, including 'Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard'.

London: Henry G. Bohn, 1841. Full calf, 8 1/2 inches tall. A splendid full calf by Bickers, the colour of Robin Hood's tights, with gilt raised bands, red label, extra gilt panels and all edges gilt. Slight rubbing. Embellished with 14 full page engravings and an engraved title page. An interesting and romantic work by Hansard, 'the Gwent Bowman', being a 'Complete History and Practice of the Art, ancient and Modern'.

London: John Murray, 1813. 3 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A superb set, fresh from an English Country House, of this scarce history in Regency tree calf with gilt pallets and fine title labels. Speckled edges. With an armorial bookplate and the neat ink former owner's name at the head of the title pages, 'James F. Leitch'. Some scuffing and superficial scratches, overall a lovely set of this history in English, translated from the French.

London: John Van Voorst, 1841. 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. The engravings, in particular are particularly charming.

London: Chatto and Windus, Piccadilly, 1876. 2 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A splendid Victorian full grain calf with gilt raised bands, contrasting twin red labels and highly ornate gilt tooling to the panels. Twin gilt and single fillet frame the straight grain on the boards. A classic history of the extraordinary Giovanni di Lorenzo de Medici, the future Pope Leo X in a striking binding.

Oxford: University Press, 1909. Full calf, 7 inches tall. A beautiful 'Oxford Binding' with gilt raised bands, floral tooling to the panels and a gilt fillet framing the tree calf boards. With an ink previous owner's name dated 1913 on the first blank. A fine anthology 'Being 1150 Poems and Extracts by 300 Authors' covering over 600 years, in a delightful Edwardian tree calf.

London: Methuen & Co., 1896. 7 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A really elegant Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands and extra gilt panels around an 'Eagle of Jove (Aëtos)' centre tool. Three gilt fillets frame the boards, the upper boards bearing the gilt blocked crest of Oriel College, Oxford. Gilt dentelles and all edges. With the armorial bookplate of Harold Hamilton Broadmead of Enmore Castle. An exceptionally clean and smart set of Gibbon's 'Decline and Fall', one of the greatest histories ever written.

Edinburgh & London: James Nichol & James Nisbet, 1853. 2 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A very smart Victorian pink full calf by Bickers, with gilt raised bands, twin labels and fine gilt tooling to the panels. A readable edition 'With Life, Critical Dissertation, and Explanatory Notes' by Gilfillan. Slight rubbing, but a clean set in excellent condition of the works of one of the greatest 17th century English poets.