History

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: Bohn, 1848. Half morocco, 15 inches tall. A glorious tall copy from the library of the Duke of Gloucester at Kensington Palace. Prince Henry Duke of Gloucester was the third son of King George V, brother of King George VI and King Edward VIII. In pristine condition this copy was bound by J. Wright, one of the finest binders of the early Victorian period, with gilt raised bands, label and magnificent gilt armorial centre tools. All edges gilt. Decorated with 60 full page hand coloured plates, all dated 1811-13.

London: John Murray, 1850. 2 volume set, 9 inches tall. A pristine set of this classic work in full mid-Victorian honey calf. With gilt raised bands, exquisite floral gilt tooling to the panels and double gilt fillet framing the boards. First edition. With the bookplate of Edward Nicholas Hurt of Wirksworth. This superb set is in pristine condition, both in terms of the text block and binding, evidently having not been read.

London: Charles Knight, 1838-44. 8 volumes, 10 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent set in heavy early Victorian full morocco by Riviere with gilt raised bands, sumptuous gilt tooling to the panels, dentelles and all edges gilt. With the bookplate of Leopold de Rothschild in every volume. With 'many hundred wood-cuts'. This highly entertaining history is 'A History of the People, as well as a History of the Kingdom'.....'Monumental Records; Coins; Civil and Military Costume; Domestic Buildings, Furniture, and Ornaments; Cathedrals and other great Works of Architecture; Sports and other illustrations of Manners; Mechanical Inventions; Portraits of the Kings and Queens; and Remarkable Historical Scenes'. Slight occasional rubbing. As fine a copy of this set as one could find.

London: Macmillan, 1877-1880; 1881; 1883. 6 volume collection, 9 inches tall. A set of the 3 great histories by Green bound beautifully by Hopkins of Glasgow. With gilt raised bands, triple olive green labels and exquisite gilt tooling in the panels. The boards are decorated in the style of 17th century Cambridge panels, speckled and stenciled. Gilt dentelles and top edges. A few superficial abrasions. As nice a late Victorian bound set as one could hope to find.

London: A Millar, 1763. 8 volume set, 8 inches tall. A beautiful 18th century French mottled calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and gilt floral tooling to the panels. With the label of the Bibliotheque de Champvieux. There is some slight cracking to a couple of joints and some slight rubbing but the set is perfectly solid and firm. Internally this is a very clean set of the first octavo edition of this great history of England.

London: John W. Parker, 1857-1861; Longmans, Green, and Co., 1872; Sampson Low et al., 1880. 7 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. Superb Victorian full calf bindings by the great firm of J. Leighton of Brewer Street from the library of Alfred de Rothschild, though without his bookplate. The 'History of Civilization in England' and 'Miscellaneous and Posthumous Works' are both first editions. With gilt raised bands, twin labels and neat gilt frame around a sunburst centre tool to the panels. Some foxing to the preliminaries and a slight stain to the title page of The life of, otherwise perfectly clean. Buckle, the highly influential English historian and author was an exponent of 'Historical Science'.

London: Cadell and Davies, 1807. 2 volume set bound in 3, 10 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent full speckled calf Regency Binding with gilt raised bands, twin labels and delicate tooling to the panels. Blue Speckled edges. With fine folding hand-coloured map. With the Stewart bookplate. Emblazoned with foreign orders and decorations, Stewart was appointed ambassador to Vienna attending, with his brother Castlereagh and Wellington, the congress convened there to determine the future of Europe following the fall of Bonaparte. However, his dissolute behaviour, womanizing (he was widowed in 1812) and preposterous love of display, which earned him the sobriquet of "The Golden Peacock", created more comment (and enjoyment) than his skills of diplomacy. A splendid looking set with a great provenance.

Oxford: The University Press, 1849. 7 volume set, 9 1/2 inches tall. A splendid early Victorian full calf by Budden of Cambridge with gilt raised bands, twin labels and very fine gilt tooling to the panels. A simple gilt fillet frames the boards. With the armorial bookplate of J.F.D. Tutt. With a neat ink inscription on the first blank dated 1849. A magnificent set of Clarendon's great 'History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England', as it was originally titled on its publication between 1702 and 1704.

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.

Oxford, The University Press, 1857. 6 volume set, 9 inches tall. A most attractive mid Victorian half calf by Morrell, with gilt raised bands, twin labels and fine gilt tooling to the panels, Gilt top edges. Narcissus Luttrell (1657–1732) was an English historian, diarist, and bibliographer, and briefly Member of Parliament for two different Cornish boroughs. His Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 1714, a chronicle of the Parliaments of England and Great Britain, was distilled from his diary and published in 1857, after Macaulay had drawn attention to the manuscript in All Souls College, Oxford (Wikipedia). A very fine set of the first edition of this important work which also covers major events in diplomacy, literature and the arts.

London: Longman et al., 1851. 5 volume set, 6 1/2 inches tall. Exquisite little set with gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels and triple labels. Note the spectacular volume label. The tree calf boards are framed within an ornate floral gilt roll. Each volume has an engraved frontispiece. From the library of Edward Nicholas Hurt, most of whose books were of this highest quality.

London: Chapman and Hall, 1846. 3 volume set, 9 inches tall. A stunning full 'Spanish Calf' with gilt bands, twin labels and dense, and most unusual, gilt tooling to the spine. The boards are framed within gilt corner tools and twin fillets. Pink speckled edges. With the armorial bookplate of Christopher Turnor of the the magnificent Stoke Rochford Hall. There is quite heavy foxing, almost completely confined to the portrait and title page of volume I. This is the second, enlarged edition. A splendid set.

London: Thomas Tegg, 1835. 8 volume set, 6 1/2 inches tall. A delightful little set in a classic early Victorian full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and extra gilt panels. Gilt and blind fillets frame the boards. Bound by Cleaver of Baker Street, Portman Square and with their ticket. Engraved title pages to all the volumes.

London: John Murray, 1853-54 & 1871. 8 volumes, 9 inches tall. The Earl Stanhope was styled Viscount Mahon between 1816-1855, the later volume precedes the text of the 7 volume set and is uniformly bound in an elegant half crushed morocco by Roger De Coverley, one of the greatest binders of the period. The bindings have gilt raised bands, splendid gilt centre tools and gilt top edges. There is some foxing to the preliminaries, then perfectly clean. Stanhope was an antiquarian politician and much respected historian.

London, Paris, New York: Goupil & Co., 1899. Full morocco, 12 1/2 inches tall. A sumptuous binding by Riviere in an unusual orange goat skin, with gilt raised bands and very fine extra gilt tooling to the panels and gilt roll and triple fillet framing the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Beautifully printed and with illustrations throughout including the colour portrait of Oliver Cromwell. One of a series of extravagantly produced, mostly Royal, biographies. Deluxe limited edition in very fine condition.