Full Vellum

London: John Bell, 1774. Full vellum, 6 1/2 inches tall. A charming 18th century vellum binding with blue calf label, bands and border on the boards. Fine floral gilt tooling on the bands and in the panels, gilt fillets decorate the blue calf straps on the boards. An old hand has written "Edwards (of Halifax) binding" on the reverse of the front free endpaper but I can not verify that, though it is certainly in their distinctive style. There is a neat previous owner's name, "M: Dann" on the first blank. A fine, unsophisticated copy.

London: Macmillan and Co., 1881. 4 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A bright full vellum with very fine gilt tooling to the panels and twin labels. Twin gilt fillets and corner tools frame the boards. Pink edges. Bookplate. Neat ink inscription on the first blank dated 1883. Maps. Some speckles on the boards but generally clean with a nice patina. Hugely popular as an historian in his day Green is now considered overly romantic, passionate and patriotic but still highly readable. A fine set.

London: William S. Orr, 1853. Full vellum, 10 1/2 inches tall. A densely gilt tooled binding with gilt bands, extra gilt panels and twin labels. Some foxing, but mostly clean. Faint blue lines frame the gilt block on the boards. All edges gilt. Profusely illustrated throughout.

Albany; Joel Munsell, 1867. Full vellum, 8 1/2 inches tall. A splendid full Victorian full vellum by Zaehnsdorf with a crest shaped label and delicate gilt tooling to the smooth spine. A gilt fillet frames the boards. With gilt dentelles and all edges. Foxing to the preliminaries, then clean. Boards slightly splayed. With the armorial bookplate of William Waldorf, Viscount Astor of Hever Castle. Baroness von Riedesel's husband commanded the Brunswick forces with the British Army. This volume contains her Memoirs of this period, including her family's life as prisoners of war.

Bruxelles: Dumont, 1835. 3 volumes, bound in 2 complete, 6 inches tall. A pretty little set in full vellum with twin labels and sparkling gilt tooling to the spine. Blue speckled edges. A previous owner's neat ink inscription on the half titles reading: G.H. Gladstone (?) Rome April 1839. Engraved plates. A lovely little set by one of the great woman writers and political theorists of her time, in the original French.

Venice: Tommaso Bettinelli, 1803. 3 volumes bound in 2, complete, 6 1/2 inches tall. A charming Italian 'rustic' full velum from the very beginning of the 19th century with gilt framed painted labels and blue speckled edges. Hugh Blair was a Scottish author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse. This is an Italian edition teaching his work.

London: Thomas Nelson, c.1910. Full vellum, 6 inches tall. A delightful little full vellum binding with the spine and boards gilt and with yapp foredge. All edges gilt. With the bookplate of S & E Virgo. Portrait.