Italy

London: Ackermann, 1815. Full morocco, 9 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent copy in full navy blue morocco for Sawyer with gilt raised bands, very fine gilt tooled panels and top edge gilt. Triple gilt fillet framing the boards. With 2 maps, 1 folding and 17 superb hand coloured aquatints by Thomas Rowlandson.

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: Baldwin, Cradock et Joy, 1824. 2 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A splendid Regency binding on half 'Russia' calf, with gilt raised bands, blind pallets and ornate, dense extra gilt panels. Particularly interesting marbled paper on the boards. From the library of Alfred de Rothschild but without the bookplate. An anonymous work on the life of this extraordinary woman with 'correlative details of the literature and manners of Italy and Provence in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries'. With some foxing and a couple of paper tears not affecting the text. A lovely set.

London: Septimus Prowett, 1825. 4 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. A delightful Georgian half vellum with gilt bands, fine gilt centre tools, labels and pink speckled edges. The engraved title pages are somewhat foxed and offset, the rest of the text block is unblemished. A fine set of this classic work, detailing the lives of the Italian novelists from the earliest period down to the close of the eighteenth century, arranged in an historical and chronological series. From the library of Charles William Vane (formerly Stewart), third Marquess of Londonderry. Vane served with distinction throughout the Peninsula War. His dashing and dandified portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence is at the National Portrait Gallery. He amassed magnificent libraries in his various Country Houses.

VENEZIA (Venice): Giovanni Gatti, 1784. 4 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. A very beautiful Italian full 18th century tree calf. With triple labels and charming gilt centre tools. Blue speckled edges. Frontispiece and engraved vignette to each title page. Sadly there is staining throughout the fourth volume which has not affected the shape or thickness of that volume or indeed of its binding. A fine Italian printing in the original language.

London: John Murray, 1819. 2 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A splendid Regency binding on half 'Russia' calf, with gilt raised bands, blind pallets and ornate, dense extra gilt panels. Particularly interesting marbled paper on the boards. From the library of Alfred de Rothschild but without the bookplate. A fascinating early work by the great English Historian presented as a series of letters addressed to him discussing all aspects of life from the North of Italy. A most attractive set.

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood, 1852. Full calf, 8 3/4 inches tall. 2 volumes bound in 1, complete. A splendid Victorian full calf binding with gilt raised bands, label and ornate extra gilt panels. Gilt and blind fillets and corner tools frame the boards. There is a neat ink inscription 'on leaving Eton', dated 1865, on the first blank. Colour frontispiece. Francesco Sforza was the great 15th century military leader who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan.

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood, 1852. 2 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A splendid Victorian full calf binding with gilt raised bands, twin labels and ornate extra gilt panels. Gilt and blind fillets and corner tools frame the boards. Colour frontispiece. An inscription on the first blank has been erased. Colour frontispiece. Francesco Sforza was the great 15th century military leader who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan.

London: The Grolier Society, 1905. Half morocco, 9 inches tall. A superb and scarce title in half crushed morocco with gilt raised bands, titles and top edges. There are excellent centre tools representing the sword and scales of justice on red calf onlays in the panels. Slight fading to the spine but still very bright. Published by the Grolier Society, the Connoisseur Edition is limited to 150 copies, of which this is number 122. This Italian volume is complete in itself though published as part of a 12 volume set. There are no overall volume numbers on the spines or within the text. The plates are in 2 states.

London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1834. Half morocco, 6 1/2 inches tall. A pretty little binding with raised bands, gilt titles and top edge by Maclehose of Glasgow. From the Library of the Late Christopher Foyle of Beeleigh Abbey. A pencil inscription on the reverse of the free end paper states: 'From Sir Theodore Martin's Library'. The extraordinary story of Olympia Fulvia Morata, Italian classical scholar of Protestant leanings who died aged just 29.