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London: (Leonard Smithers) Privately Printed, 1896-1897. 4 Volume set, 7.5 inches tall. Superbly bound by Nichols in full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and dense gilt tooling to the panels. Top edge gilt, the other edges untrimmed. 'This edition is strictly limited to 1000 numbered copies, 500 of which are for America'. This copy unnumbered. A fascinating work by the team of Leonard Smithers and Harry Sidney Nichols, celebrated printers and publishers of erotic and pornographic volumes.

London: Jennings, n.d. c.1837. Full morocco, 11.5 inches tall. A splendid binding from the beginning of the Victorian period with wide gilt raised bands, magnificent tooling to the boards and all edges gilt. Including the title page there are 42 engraved views by David Roberts. Foxing, particularly heavy on the title page. With the bookseller's ticket of Pocock of Bath. A rare tall edition, with no text, in a spectacular binding.

Paris: Chez la Veuve Estienne, 1741. 4 volume set, 6.5 inches tall. A lovely 18th century English tree calf set from the library of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, with gilt bands, labels and yellow edges. A very fine set in pristine condition. In the original French.

London Baldwin and Becket, 1784. 4 volume set, 7 inches tall. A simple but elegant full 18th century tree calf with red label and gilt pallets and volume numbers. Portrait. Bookplate of Ellen James. Foxing facing the portrait and at the end of volume 4, otherwise a clean set. A curious work, rarely found in fine condition by philosopher, composer and writer, Rousseau, who was one of the most influential philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment.

London: Longman et al., 1816. 4 volume set, 7 1/4 inches tall. Full contemporary vellum binding with twin labels and extra gilt tooling to the spine. The binding is soiled and marked but retains its shape and has no splitting. The volume label for volume I has slight loss. This edition, the 7th, LACKS the copper plates, which were never bound in. 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' is a quintessential Gothic romance containing as it does, all the necessary ingredients: remote crumbling castles, seemingly supernatural events, a brooding, scheming villain and a persecuted heroine.

London: John Murray, 1847. 2 volume set, 8.5 inches tall. An exceptionally handsome classic mid 19th century full calf binding. With gilt raised bands, twin labels, very finely gilt tooled panels and all edges gilt. An embossed prize block on the upper boards and a prize plate on the paste down endpaper dated 1850. A pristine set of this famous history.

London: H.G. Bohn, 1849. 2 volume set, 7.25 inches tall. One of a special series of 'Bohn's Extra Volumes' Beautifully bound in full morocco by the celebrated London binder Jeremiah Larkins. With gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels, dentelles and all edges gilt. Bookplates and the neat stamp of Bostonian collector Charles S. Dixwell on the reverse of the front free endpapers. Portraits.

London: Chapman & Hall, 1887. Full morocco, 8 inches tall. A most good looking full morocco by Leighton with gilt raised bands, gilt tooled panels, dentelles and all edges. A charming work with 12 colour plates. Very slight scuffing to the boards, an excellent copy. With the bookplate of Alfred Freiherr de Rothschild of Halton House, Bucks..

Paris: Didot, 1803 (AN XI). 5 volume set, 5.5 inches tall. A delightful set in full straight grain morocco with gilt bands, centre tools, gilt roll framing the boards and all edges gilt. In the original French.

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1892. 2 volume set, 11 inches tall. A very smart full morocco binding with gilt raised bands, gilt fillets to the panels and rolls to the boards. Gilt top edges. Limited to 1000 copies of which this is number 73. Portrait and 14 full page plates by Louis Chalon. Translated into English by Sir Thomas Urquart of Cromarty and Peter Anthony Motteux. A handsome set of this great 16th century fantasy.

Chiswick Press: C. Whittingham, 1819. Full calf, 7.5 inches tall. A superbly bound volume with gilt raised bands and ornate blind tooling to the panels and boards, typical of the Regency period. Slight rubbing. Bookplate and Binder's Ticket for T.Sowler of St. Ann's Square, Manchester. A very curious and rare work containing 2 reprints, the first published originally by John Deane in 1609, the second by Thomas Thorp in 1612. Titled 'Ancient Humorous Poetry' on the spine.

London: Becket, Cadell and Evans, 1774. 4 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. A good looking 18th century full calf with gilt raised bands, twin labels and elaborate gilt tooling to the panels. A single gilt fillet frames the boards, With bookplate of Ellen James. Some rubbing and cracks to the joints but overall a perfectly firm and solid set of this English language edition.

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.

Paris: Gibert Jeune Librairie d'Amateurs, 1938. 4to (10½" tall). Full blue crushed morocco. Splendid 1930's French binding with a series of wide bands each bearing a letter of the title. Coloured calf inlay and gilt tooling on the upper board. Top edge gilt.

London: Richard Bentley, 1852. 2 volume set, 8 inches tall. A classic Victorian full calf binding with gilt raised bands, bright twin labels and ornate gilt tooling to the panels. Twin gilt fillets frame the boards. A neat ink inscription dated 1858, "on leaving Eton" is on the first blank. A fine copy, in English, of a scarce work by Ranke, the great German historian.

London, Whitehall, 1884. Half morocco, 7 inches tall. A neat and simple late Victorian binding with raised bands and gilt titles and top edge. No.1 in a series entitled 'Rochester Series of Reprints, limited to 100 copies, was printed privately owing to the erotic and bawdy nature of the verse. John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester is considered the most learned among the Restoration wits and was censored throughout the Victorian period, appearing only occasionally in print in such privately printed works as this.

Halifax: William Milner, 1844. Full morocco, 5.5 inches tall. A superb gilt embossed binding with gilt panels, boards and titles. All edges gilt. Portrait, engraved title page and 2 folding maps. Ink inscription on free endpaper dated Xmas, 1845.

London: Cadell, 1830. Full morocco, 8 inches tall. An unusual colour and an unusual design with superb gilt tooling to the spine and boards. All edges gilt. Illustrated throughout with engravings by Joseph Mallord William Turner. Internally very clean which is unusual for this edition which is often badly foxed. A beautiful copy of the first edition.

London: Richard Bentley, 1854. Full calf, 6.5 inches tall. A splendid little full calf with gilt raised bands, triple labels and delicate floral gilt tooling to the panels. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Charles Reade, most well known for 'The Cloister and the Hearth', was a hugely popular Victorian novelist. Arthur Conan Doyle declared 'The Cloister and the Hearth' to be his favorite novel and Oscar Wilde called it Reade's "one beautiful book, after which he wasted the rest of his life in a foolish attempt to be modern". His very early Dramatic Works, such as 'Two Loves and One Life' written in collaboration with Tom Taylor, are extremely scarce, this copy being spectacularly well bound.