Full Calf

London: Bradbury & Evans, 1850. 2 volume set, 9 inches tall. A superb tree calf binding by the great firm of Hayday with gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels and contrasting labels. A striking gilt roll frames the boards. Illustrated by Thackeray himself with vignettes and full page engraved plates throughout. Light foxing. The classic tale of a young English gentleman, Arthur Pendennis, born in the country who sets out for London to seek his place in life and society encountering a satirical picture of human character and aristocratic society.

London: Adam and Charles Black, 1893. 2 volume set, 8 inches tall. An exceptionally nice Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, bright twin labels and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. With the gilt blocked heraldic device for Oriel College, Oxford on the upper boards. With the armorial bookplate of Edward Seymour Forster, the famous Greek classicist and scholar, and a neat prize inscription to him on the first blank. A superb set on this great study on the classic Greek poets.

London: Cassell, Petter & New York, c.1890. 2 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A lovely Victorian tree calf with gilt raised bands, sparkling twin labels and extra gilt panels. A gilt roll frames the boards and the gilt prize block of Rossall School on the upper boards. With the prize bookplate of Rossall school on the first paste down endpaper. Embellished with colour maps showing St. Paul's missionary journeys.

Londres (London): J. J. Stockdale, 1814. Full calf, 7 inches tall. A splendid 'Romantic' binding with gilt raised bands, red label and dense and intricate gilt tooling to the panels and blind tooling to the boards within gilt detail. French writer and classicist Jacques Delille's poem illustrates his Royalist sympathies and distaste for the Republican regime that forced him into exile. Embellished with an engraved portrait and 2 further engraved plates. With the neat ink inscription 'G. H. Wheeler' on the half title. A beautiful copy in fine condition, in the original French.

London: C. S. Arnold, 1827. Full calf, 5 inches tall. A delightful little Georgian full calf with gilt raised bands, ornate gilt tooling to the panels and contrasting bright red label. With an engraved vignette on the title page. Smollett's last, and in the view of many, his best and funniest novel.

London and New York: The London Printing and Publishing Company, 1860. 3 volume set, 11 inches tall. An impressive set in Victorian calf calf with gilt raised bands, contrasting labels and ornate gilt tooling to the panels. With the bookplate of Theodore Moore. Some slight foxing to the preliminaries. Embellished with 7 folding hand coloured maps and 67 engraved views, portraits and maps. 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: Patrick Martin, 1816. Full calf, 9 inches tall. A splendid later full calf with gilt raised bands, ornate gilt panels and twin labels. Gilt dentelles and top edge. With 15 full page hand-coloured aquatints, as called for. With its felt lined buckram slip case. Predating Mitford's 'Adventures of Johnny Newcombe in the Navy' this hilarious satire presents our hero as he begins his military career on dry land. We witness his experiences in Pall Mall and then onto The Peninsula War in which he helps repel the invading French forces of Napoleon.

London: Thomas Tegg, 1827. 2 volume set, 6 1/2 inches tall. A beautiful little Georgian full calf binding with gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels and contrasting maroon labels. Twin gilt fillets, triple blind fillets and blind corner tools frame the boards. An engraved title page in both volumes. This set covers the period " From the Earliest State to the Death of Alexander the Great". Oliver Goldsmith, novelist, poet and historian influenced later English authors Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Mary Shelley, all of whom mention his characters in their own novels. A delightful set.

London: John Murray, 1819. 7 volume set, 8 inches tall. A very pleasing Regency full calf in fine condition with blind tooled raised bands and panels, twin labels and a series of blind fillets and a wide roll frames the boards. Internally and externally very clean with just a few small scuffs and marks to the bindings. There is a neat ink inscription of the period to a Louisa Blaxlund (?). This anthology, "with Biographical and Critical Notices, and an Essay on English Poetry" represents a comprehensive selection of poets from the age of Chaucer, John Gower and John Lydgate.

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855. 2 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A splendid Victorian full straight grain calf from the recently dispersed Country House library of Bridehead in Dorset. With gilt raised bands, twin labels and superb gilt tooling to the panels. Sydney Smith, author, philosopher, humourist and wit, whose opinions on early American literature had huge impact. A "sincere friend of America", he founded the Edinburgh Review, lectured at the Royal Institution and is still known for his rhyming salad dressing recipe!

London: Macmillan and Co., 1908. Full calf, 6 inches tall. A delightful Edwardian full calf with raised bands and fine gilt tooling to the panels and boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. There is some blotchiness to the title panel and a slight dark mark near the fore-edge of the upper board and slight rubbing. On the second blank is a long ink inscription dated, Edinburgh, 1911 and the letters T.Y.S. appear in the cartouche on the upper board. The binding has the stamp 'Bound by Otto Schultze & Co. Edinburgh'. A lovely little copy of this famous anthology "Selected from the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language".

London: William Tegg, 1812-1815. 12 volume set, 8 inches tall. A superb Regency full calf binding with wide gilt bands, delicate gilt tooling with a Greek lyre centre tool to the panels and contrasting maroon label. A gilt roll and blind fillets frame the boards. Portrait, engraved title pages and full page engravings throughout. There is considerable fading to the spines and some boards, in particular that of volume I, otherwise a fine clean firm set. On the reverse of the paste down endpaper of volume one are are 2 ink inscriptions. Overall a splendid set of this scarce edition.

London: John Sharpe, 1817. 3 volumes, 5 1/2 inches tall. A pretty little Regency full calf with gilt decorated panels and red labels. Twin gilt fillets frame the ornately blind tooled boards. Each volume has an engraved frontispiece by Westall. The neat ink inscription "C.G. Geddes 1829" is on the reverse of the front free endpapers and another neat ink former owner's name on the top corner of the first blanks. A forerunner of Romantic Poetry, William Cowper was hugely popular and influential in his day.

London: John Sharpe, 1817. Full calf, 6 1/4 inches tall. A delightful Regency full calf binding with gilt and ink raised bands, so typical of the period, extra gilt panels and contrasting label. The diced boards are framed within triple gilt fillets and a wide gilt roll. With the Bookseller's Ticket of Bowdery & Kerby of 190 Oxford Street. With an engraved title page and 3 further full page engravings, all of which have some foxing, the rest of the text being clean. A fine copy of this charming tale.

London: James Duncan, 1834. 6 volumes, 8 1/2 inches tall. Two fine sets in uniform early Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, gilt tooling to the panels and twin labels. Blind fillets and corner tools frame the boards. Portrait. Foxing to the preliminaries and then clean. From the recently dispersed Country House library of Bridehead in Dorset.

Edinburgh: C. Elliot, 1809. 5 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A very neat Georgian full calf with gilt raised bands, pallets and contrasting twin labels. With the armorial bookplate of John Burton Philips of Heath House. Embellished with an engraved portrait and 26 splendid engravings by Rowlandson and others. Although entitled Miscellaneous Works, this charming set includes all of Smollett's major literary works other than his continuation of Hume's History of England. Each work has its own title page and collation. Slight rubbing and slight foxing to the plates but overall a fine set of the Works of one of Scotland's best novelists.

London: John W. Parker and Son, 1858-1870. 12 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A splendid set in Victorian full straight grain calf with gilt raised bands and fine gilt tooling to the panels. Foxing to the preliminaries, then clean. The 12 volume set is divided into two sets of 6 volumes both entitled 'The Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth'. Portrait. A fine Country House set from the Library of Bridehead in Dorset.