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Liverpool: Brown, Barnes & Bell, 1878. 2 volume set, 16 1/2 inches tall. A huge and spectacular morocco binding by the great Victorian bookbinders of Liverpool, Fazakerley. A binding of the highest quality, perhaps an exhibition piece, with gilt raised bands and ornate gilding to the panels and boards, incorporating liver birds, floral flourishes and pallet work, framed within twin fillets. All edges gilt and fine gilt dentelles. The endpapers are also a delight, involving more liver birds, urns and floral designs. Embellished with 72 plates. A charming and nostalgic look at the lost buildings and areas of Old Liverpool in excellent condition, inside and out.

London: Vernoe and Hood et al., 1804. Full morocco, 10 3/4 inches tall. A beautiful copy bound at the beginning of the 19th century with twin raised bands and fine and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. The boards are framed in a splendid series of gilt rolls and fillets. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Embellished with 24 full page engravings. A sparkling tall copy of this classic law book which includes "Historical and Descriptive Sketches Relative to their Original Foundation, Customs, Ceremonies, Buildings, Government, &c. &c. With a Concise History of The English Law".

London: Macmillan and Co., 1892. Full morocco, 6 inches tall. A beautiful full morocco by Ramage with gilt raised bands, delicate, tiny gilt tooling to the panels and boards with a multitude of stars and flowers. Gorgeous gilt dentelles and watered silk doublures and free end paper. All edges gilt. From the Golden Treasury Series. A delightful little binding of great quality in pristine condition.

New York: Duprat & Co. 1893, 1894 & 1895. The first 3 volumes of this very rare limited edition, 7" tall. Beautifully bound by Canape in half red morocco with gilt raised bands, ornate tooling to the panels around a calf onlay. Gilt top edges. With the bookplates of Pierre Munier and I. Fernandez. With an ink inscription from the publisher on the first blank. Number 416 of 600 copies on handmade paper. The first volume has delightful coloured comic illustrations of various aspects of the book trade facing each month. The second and third volumes have fine monochrome plates. Copies of these volumes are exceedingly scarce and, especially in pristine condition and in fine bindings.

Published by New York: Duprat & Co. 1893 - 97. 5 volume set, 7 inches tall. A superb complete set of this wonderful and very scarce title in a half crushed morocco binding of the period with gilt raised bands and ornate floral gilt tooling with red calf onlays to the panels. Limited to a total of 600 copies Beautifully illustrated throughout, volume I by Henriot, volume II by Robida, the remaining volumes are more serious in tone. Volume V contains an original watercolour.

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 Robert Herrick, 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 lyric poet.

London: J. Johnson, 1807-1808. 6 volume set, 12 inches tall. Exceptionally good looking Georgian full russia calf with blind tooled twin raised bands and splendid blind tooling to the panels, typical of the period. The boards have a series of blind rolls and fillets and single gilt fillet framing a central blind panel with corner tools. With the armorial bookplate of Lord Kinnaird of Rossie Priory. Some foxing but generally very clean. The books are in excellent condition but, as is so often the case with heavy russia calf, some joints are fragile and creased. This is an important new edition of this great work, first printed in 1577 that is the basis for many of Shakespeare's plays.

London: Bell and Daldy, 1871-72. 5 volume set, 7 1/4 inches tall. A sparkling Victorian full calf by Bickers with gilt raised bands, twin labels and ornate gilt tooling to the panels. The boards have twin gilt fillets and corner tools framing a remarkable gilt prize block. Prize bookplates. In his lifetime Humboldt was one of the most famous men in Europe and academies elected him to their membership, the first being The American Philosophical Society. He was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. 'Kosmos' was Humboldt's work bringing together all the research from his long career, It is rarely found in a finely bound set in English.

Augsburg (Augustae Vindelicorum): Sumptibus ignatii adami & Francisci Antonii Veith, 1759. 6 volume set, 14.5 inches tall. Full vellum, dating from the middle of the 18th century with gilt tooled labels and unusual pink and green edges. The Codex Regularum, created in Aachen in 817, was designed by Benedict to restore the strict observation of monastic life which had been relaxed over recent centuries. Complete sets in contemporary bindings are scarce. There is some scuffing and staining to the vellum, in particular at the tails of each volume but there is no splitting and the bindings are in excellent condition. 2 bookplates. In the original Latin.

London: Saunders and Otley, 1836, 1837 & 1838. 3 volumes, 8 3/4 inches tall. A very beautiful full calf set bound by Zaehnsdorf with an unusual 4 raised bands, twin labels and fine gilt tooling to the panels. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Embellished with superb engraved vignettes throughout. A fine set of these annual anthologies of British verse throughout the centuries.

London & Edinburgh: Cadell & Blackwood, 1839. 7 volume set, 6.75 inches tall. Full hard grain morocco with wide gilt raised bands, gilt lettering dentelles and all edges. The panels are framed by blind pallets. The portraits and engraved title pages are hand coloured. Bookseller's tickets. A delightful set of the works of Felicia Hemans, the most considerable woman poet of the Romantic period.

Paris: Garnier Freres, 1844. Full morocco, 10.5 inches tall. A splendid 'Gothic' binding with raised bands and blind tooling to the panels and boards. There is a recessed panel with vellum onlays on both boards with 'Paris 1844' on the lower board and 'a slightly smudged 'Victor Hugo. Notre Dame de Paris' on the upper, both with fine caligraphic flourishes. Blind dentelles and all edges gauffered and gilt. With an armorial bookplate. This is the first issue with these illustrations comprising engraved title and 54 engraved plates. In the original French. A fine edition of this classic French novel in a suitably sombre binding.

London: William Miller, 1809. Full calf, 9.75 inches tall. A delightful Regency full calf with gilt and inked raised bands, twin labels and exceptionally delicate gilt tooling to the panels and blind pallets. The boards are framed within gilt fillets and roll. Gilt dentelles. Illustrated with 200 splendid engraved plates by Henry Moses. Slight abrasions to the boards but overall a very fine copy. With the bookplate of M. General Sir Charles Stewart, British nobleman and soldier, the fourth son of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute.

London & Paris:Boussod, Valadon & Co. (Goupil), 1897. Full morocco, 13 inches tall. A very bright and attractive copy of this sumptuous edition with one colour plate and numerous monochrome full page illustrations. A couple of tiny ancient worm holes and slight foxing, otherwise pristine.

London: Gulielmus Pickering, 1831. 2 volume set, 4 1/8 inches tall. A wonderful full crushed morocco by Holloway. With raised bands, blind pallets and gilt Aldus leaves in the panels. The boards have a blind panel with gilt Aldus leaves as corner tools. Gilt dentelles and all edges. A delightful small set printed by William Pickering with miniscule type, in the original Greek.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892-99. 8 volume set bound in 9, 8 1/2 inches tall. A handsome half calf with gilt raised bands, dense gilt panels and twin labels. Colour frontispiece to volume I, photographic views, maps and other illustrations throughout. An interesting work rarely found in a fine binding.

London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854. 2 volume set, 9 inches tall. A very smart mid-Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, beautifully gilt tooled panels and twin labels. Two gilt fillets frame the boards. Maps. A neat inscription dated 1864 "on leaving Eton" is written on the first blank. An important and scarce history translated from the original German.