Signed Binding

Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1849 - 1850. 15 volume set, 9 inches tall. Superb Victorian full calf bound by Zaehnsdorf, with gilt raised bands, triple labels in red, black and green, and superb gilt tooling. With the armorial bookplate of Allan Harvey Drummond. Some marks and superficial loss to a long defunct insect to some boards, and some foxing to several plates, but overall in wonderful condition. Sir Archibald Alison's great history consists of 14 volumes plus a uniformly bound Atlas, which contains all 108 maps. The Atlas volume is 11 inches deep. With portraits. These 15 volumes cover the Commencement of the French Revolution in 1789 to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815'. This set is complete as it was first published. It was continued some years later (See our other set).

London: Bradbury & Evans, 1850. 2 volume set, 9 inches tall. A superb tree calf binding by the great firm of Hayday with gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels and contrasting labels. A striking gilt roll frames the boards. Illustrated by Thackeray himself with vignettes and full page engraved plates throughout. Light foxing. The classic tale of a young English gentleman, Arthur Pendennis, born in the country who sets out for London to seek his place in life and society encountering a satirical picture of human character and aristocratic society.

London: Cassell & Company, 1887 - Bristol: J. W. Arrowsmith, 1917. 45 volumes, 5 1/2 inches to 8 inches. An extraordinary and unique set of first editions of works by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, also known as 'Q', all in uniform beautiful half morocco bindings by Zaehnsdorf. With raised bands and glorious floral gilt tooling in the Art-Nouveau style. Many have their original cloth covers bound in. All have the bookplate of Charles Plumptre Johnson. Arthur Quiller-Couch was a Cornishman and prolific novelist and poet. In 1887 he published 'Dead Man's Rock', a romance in the style of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. He continued to write popular novels and poetry as well as celebrated anthologies of poetry and Fairy-Tales throughout the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. A unique collection, in superb bindings, in absolutely pristine condition.

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1895. 2 volume set, 11 inches tall. A pristine and very good looking half mottled calf by the Geneva bookbinder Asper with gilt raised bands, maroon label, gilt framed panels and gilt top edges. Embellished with 18 full page plates by E. R. Hughes. A splendid English language edition of 1000 copies of the great work of the 15th century Italian poet best known for his 50 celebrated bawdy short stories, here first translated into English.

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1894. 2 volume set, 11 inches tall. A pristine and very good looking half mottled calf by the Geneva bookbinder Asper with gilt raised bands, maroon label, gilt framed panels and gilt top edges. Embellished with 18 full page plates by E. R.Hughes. A splendid English language edition of 1000 copies of the great work of the early 16th century Italian writer of bawdy short stories, which include some of the original versions of well known fairy stories. This translation into English is the first collected English language version of Straparola's 'Nights', 'The Pleasant Nights' or 'Facetious Nights', as they are also known.

London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1892. 2 volume set, 11 inches tall. A pristine and very good looking half mottled calf by the Geneva bookbinder Asper with gilt raised bands, maroon label, gilt framed panels and gilt top edges. Embellished with a portrait and 14 full page plates. A splendid English language edition of 1000 copies of the great work of the early 16th century French renaissance satirist Francis Rabelais. Described as the first great French prose writer he revelled in the bawdy, grotesque, extravagant and robust tales that he is still celebrated for.

Edinburgh: William Paterson & and London: H. Sotheran & Co., 1874, 74, 75, 75, 79. 5 volumes, 8 inches tall. A sparkling half crushed morocco by Ramage with gilt raised bands, superb gilt framed panels and gilt top edge. 5 limited edition titles 'Printed for Subscribers Only' from the series 'Dramatists of the Restoration'. The outrageous and often sexually explicit texts were written for the stage during the reign of Charles II following the puritan interregnum. They are celebrated for their wit and brilliant humour, hence the need to be privately printed, and again today are rarely performed through fear of offending today's delicate audiences. A very nice collection of these scarce editions in pristine condition.

London: W. Strahan, J. Rivington and Sons, et al., 1784. 10 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A superb later binding by the great Arthur S. Colley in half mottled calf with gilt raised bands, ornate gilt tooling to the panels and twin labels. All edges gilt. Engraved frontispieces to each volume. This is a very fine 18th century edition of Fielding's works, include a Life of Fielding. Included are all Fielding's great novels, 'Tom Jones', 'Shamela', 'Joseph Andrews', 'Amelia', 'Jonathan Wild', as well as his great satirical comedies and poems. In very fine condition.

Berlin: Photographische Gesellschaft Berlin, 1895. Full morocco, 26 1/2 inches tall by the great London firm of Leighton of Golden Square and with their ticket. A binding of the finest quality with 2 raised bands on a smooth back and an elaborate series of gilt rolls to the boards. Gilt dentelles and top edge. Scratch to the lower board and light foxing, otherwise pristine. An elephant folio with 51 photogravures printed on hand-made paper of works by Rembrandt. With 3 title pages listing 16 plates from the Dresden Gallery, 17 from the Cassel Gallery and 18 from the Berlin Gallery. The blind stamp of the Photographische Gesellschaft Berlin is found in the margin under each plate. This is a Rothschild copy from the Exbury House Library.

London: Bradbury & Evans, 1858. 2 volume set, 9 inches tall. A superb tree calf binding by the great firm of Hayday with gilt raised bands, extra gilt panels and contrasting labels. A striking gilt roll frames the boards. Illustrated by Thackeray himself with vignettes and full page engraved plates throughout. The Virginians, 'A Tale of the Last Century', involves the American Wars of Independence, as well as Gereral Woolfe's capture of Quebec. A fine set of the first edition in book form.

London: Macmillan and Co., 1908. Full calf, 6 inches tall. A delightful Edwardian full calf with raised bands and fine gilt tooling to the panels and boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. There is some blotchiness to the title panel and a slight dark mark near the fore-edge of the upper board and slight rubbing. On the second blank is a long ink inscription dated, Edinburgh, 1911 and the letters T.Y.S. appear in the cartouche on the upper board. The binding has the stamp 'Bound by Otto Schultze & Co. Edinburgh'. A lovely little copy of this famous anthology "Selected from the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language".

London: John Murray, 1842. Full Calf, 9 3/4 inches tall. An extraordinary Victorian binding by the great firm of White of Pall Mall, and with their binder's ticket. With gilt raised bands, splendid extra gilt panels , very wide dentelles and all edges gauffered. With remarkable mosaic gilt tooling to the boards with green and black onlays with richly gilt tooled panels. There is rubbing to the boards, some superficial staining and bumped corners but still a wonderful example of this great binding. The borders and ornamental vignettes are by the great Victorian designer Owen Jones and the numerous illustrations are by David Roberts and others.

London: MacMillans' 1892. Full morocco, 7 1/4 inches tall. A superb full crushed morocco with raised bands, gilt titles, dentelles and all edges. A gilt coronet atop the initial 'R' is on the upper board. Some rubbing to the shoulders. With the bookplate of Durdans, Rosebery's Surrey country house. Inscribed to The Earl of Rosebery on the first blank, a letter in the same hand is loosely inserted and a blind stamp on the title page. Lord Rosebery famously said that he had three aims in life: to win the Derby, to marry an heiress, and to become Prime Minister. He achieved all three.

London: Routledge, c.1895. Full calf, 8 inches tall. An adaptation of this great early 17th century novel 'for the young', bound in splendid tree calf by Bickers, with gilt raised bands, contrasting label and fine gilt tooling to the panels, all in pristine condition. An ornate gilt roll frames the prize device of Wellington College on the upper board. The prize bookplate of Wellington College is on the front paste down end paper. Embellished with 206 illustrations by Sir John Gilbert and other artists, including 4 in full colour.

London: Thomas and William Boone, 1853. 6 volume set, 7 3/4 inches tall. A very neat Victorian full calf by T. Hatchard with gilt raised bands, twin labels and handsome gilt tooling to the panels. Triple blind fillets and corner tools frame the boards. Red speckled edges. Embellished with 55 full page engraved maps and battle plans. A fine set of one of the most celebrated works on the battles on the Iberian Peninsular during the Napoleonic Wars fought between the ultimately successful forces of Great Britain, Spain and Portugal against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire.

London: John Murray, 1888. 2 volume set, 7 1/2 inches tall. A smart late Victorian half morocco binding by Birdsall with gilt raised bands and finely gilt tooled panels. Gilt top edges. Foxing to the preliminaries, then clean, and a nick to the head cap of volume 2. An elegant set of this early edition.

London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, 1865-1861. 5 volume set, 8 3/4 inches tall. A splendid Victorian full calf by Bickers with gilt raised bands, twin labels and very fine gilt tooling to the panels. The title labels are slightly faded but still bright and good looking. With bookplate. Slight foxing to the preliminaries then clean. A most handsome set of this classic history of England.

Amsterdam: 1745. 2 volume set, 6 1/2 inches tall. An exquisite full crushed morocco binding by Reymann with gilt raised bands and exceptionally fine and delicate tooling to the panels. Triple gilt fillets frame the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. The whole work is remarkably bright and clean. There is a small black ink stain in the margin of pages 3-6 in volume one and no frontispiece to volume 2 was ever bound in. Embellished with an engraved frontispiece to volume 1, engraved vignettes to both title pages, Engraved tailpieces and 68 engravings illustrating the tales. In the original French.