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Nella Stamperia De Romanis, 1815-1817. 4 volume set, 11 inches tall. A magnificent straight grain morocco by J. Clarke, one of the finest binders in Georgian London. With gilt raised bands, elegant gilt tooling to the panels and boards. All edges gilt. Portrait and 3 engraved plans. With the armorial bookplate of William Strahan. Considered the greatest poem of the Middle Ages and the most important work in the Italian language. In the original Italian.

London: Charles Knight and Co., 1839. 3 volume set, 9.5 inches tall. A wonderful full Spanish calf by J.Leighton of Brewer Street with raised gilt bands and stunning extra gilt panels. The boards are framed within sumptuous gilt rolls and fillets. With gilt dentelles and all edges. With the armorial bookplate of Gregory Haines. Illustrated throughout with hundreds of wood engravings from the designs of William Harvey. A fabulous set.

London Pickering, 1825. Full calf, 7.5 inches tall. A ravishing full Spanish Calf binding by Riviere with gilt bands, triple labels and ornate rococo gilt tooling to the spine. The boards are framed within triple gilt fillets. Gilt dentelles and top edges. This set has the bookplate of the Rosenbach Foundation, from which it was released in 1968. A truly beautiful set.

London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1878. 24 volume set, plus uniformly bound bibliography of Thackeray, 10 1/4 inches tall. A magnificent set in half crushed morocco by Zaehnsdorf with gilt raised bands, gilt pallets and all edges gilt. This is the finest De Luxe set of Thackeray's works, limited to 1000 copies, of which this set is number 7. Profusely illustrated by the author with full page plates and vignettes on India paper, the full page plates being on card. This set, obviously unread, is in pristine condition. The uniformly bound bibliography was printed as a companion and supplement to the edition De Luxe, but is very frequently not present.

London: Edward Moxon, 1843-1846. 11 volume set, 8.75 inches tall. A truly splendid full hard grain morocco by one of the greatest binders of the period, White of Pall Mall. With gilt raised bands, unusual dense gilt tooling to the panels and gilt dentelles. All the edges are gilt over marbling. The heraldic crest on both boards is framed within magnificent gilt rolls and individual tooling. The crest with the motto 'Sic Donec' is that of William Tatton Egerton, 1st Baron Egerton of Tatton Park. A wonderful set of the Works of these two early 17th century English playwrights, often considered successors to Shakespeare.

London: Richard Bentley, 1840-1875. 23 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A Superb full polished calf by Riviere with gilt raised bands, twin labels, fine gilt tooling to the panels and a triple gilt fillet framing the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Engraved frontispieces. All first editions. A fine set of these celebrated historical works. (Comprising: The Court of England During the Reign of the Stuarts; The Court of England from the Revolution in 1688 to the Death of George II; George Selwyn and his Contemporaries; Memorials of London; Memoirs of the Pretenders; London and its Celebrities; Memoirs of Richard III: Memoirs of George III; Celebrated Etonians). Fine set from the library of an Oxfordshire country house.

Paris: Le Livre Contemporain, 1905. Full inlaid crushed morocco, 9.5 inches tall. A beautiful Art-Nouveau binding by Petrus Ruban with a wreath of roses inlaid in hues of soft pink, with leaves and buds in shades of green, raised bands and inlaid branches of roses climbing through the panels. Watered silk endpapers and doublures. With alternating large and small inlaid pink morocco daisies on the turn-ins. Original blue-gray wraps bound in. Housed in matching morocco backed chemise and morocco edged slipcase. With title page vignette and 58 engraved views by Gustave Leheutre. With morocco bookplate of the great French bibliophile George Wendling on verso of free end paper and his small stamp on second blank. No. 73 of 117 deluxe copies. A beautiful work in outstanding condition.

Bruxelles: Paul Lacomblez, 1914. Full morocco, 13 inches tall. A truly magnificent binding in pristine condition by Paul Affolter with gilt raised bands, superb gilt tooling with onlays to the panels and framing the boards. Wide gilt dentelles and watered silk doublures and free endpapers. Number 50 of 75 copies on 'japon imperial' with an extra suite of colour plates. In the original felt lined and leather trimmed slipcase also signed by Affolter. Based on an obscure 16th century romance, Coster's masterpiece tells of the adventures of a Flemish prankster, Thyl Ulenspiegel, during the wars of the Reformation in the Netherlands and became popular all over the world.

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 Thomas, 1840. 3 volume set, 10 inches tall. A gorgeous Spanish calf binding by Tout with gilt raised bands, triple labels and fine gilt tooling to the panels. Gilt Cambridge panels to the boards, dentelles and gilt top edges. With 800 engraved vignettes from designs by Tony Johannot. A remarkable set bound in this very scarce style in a most unusual colour by one of London's greatest late Victorian binders.

London: The Punch Office, 1847-1848. Bradbury and Evans. 3 volumes, 9 inches tall. A wonderful set of the first editions of these great comic works. Bound by Bradstreet in the finest full crushed morocco with raised bands and gilt dentelles. From the Duke of Gloucester's library at Kensington Palace, each volume with his bookplate. Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was the third son of King George V, brother of King George VI and King Edward VIII. Original wrappers bound in. With a total of 30 hand coloured engravings and over 300 woodcuts by John Leech.

London: Macmillan, 1920. Full morocco, 6 inches tall. A glorious binding by Ramage with gilt raised bands, and very intricate and elaborate gilt tooling and inlays to the panels and boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. Watered silk doublures and free endpapers. We have seen this Ramage binding on other volumes but none in this pristine condition. The Meditations of the great Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher (AD 121 - 180), in English.

Boston & New York: Houghton Miflin Company, 1909. 16 volume set, 9 inches high. A truly splendid set bound by OLDASH in full morocco with raised bands, fine gilt tooling to the panels, wide dentelles and top edge. Watered silk doublures and endpapers. With full page illustrations throughout. With the armorial bookplate of John J. Raskob. A superb set in pristine condition.

London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green; and Adam Black, 1829. Full morocco,12 inches tall. Two volumes bound in one, complete. A magnificent early Victorian binding by Wright, one of the greatest binders of the period with gilt raised bands, label and glorious gilt tooling to the panels and boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. The Gosford copy, large paper with all 64 india paper proof plates. A little rubbing and minor foxing. A superb copy of this lovely volume showing the glories of Greece.

London: Sherwood, Jones & Co., 1825-1826. 2 volume set, 9.5 inches tall. A magnificent set of the first edition of this brilliant comic work bound in full straight grain morocco by Riviere. With gilt raised bands, gilt paletts, dentelles and all edges. 71 very fine hand coloured aquatints of which 68 are by Robert Cruikshank and 2 by Thomas Rowlandson and 1 by T. Wageman. Featuring rollicking adventures in London, Eton, Brighton, The Isle of Wight and other fashionable hotspots, we follow the 'raffish life of English pleasure seekers'. The author Charles Molloy Westmacott, using the nom de plume Bernard Blackmantle, partly to deflect the torrent of controversy that welcomed the book's publication, was renowned for his satirisation of English high society.

London: The Florence Press by Chatto & Windus, 1909. Full crushed morocco, 11 inches tall. A remarkable binding by J(ulius) Dratva of Vienna with large raised bands and simple gilt framed panels. The upper board shows St Francis kneeling before a winged Christ through an arch with dragon heads in the top corners. All edges have very unusual floral gilt gauffering. A gilt armorial device G.T. with a Griffin wielding an anchor and sword on the paste down endpaper. Number 191 from a limited edition of 500. An exceptional item.

London: Septimus Prowett, 1825. 13 volume set, 9 inches tall. A splendid tall paper set in a magnificent hard grain morocco by one of London's most celebrated binders, Clarke & Bedford. With gilt raised bands, ornate gilt tooling to the panels and the play titles in the surely smallest type a binder could use. The boards framed within triple fillets, gilt dentelles and all edges. Some speckles to the boards. With the striking bookplate of John Wodehouse, Earl of Kimberley Foreign secretary under Queen Victoria. This collection of Elizabethan and Jacobean plays was significant in reacquainting the public with many previously neglected works. A very fine set.