Vellum Bindings

C. 1850. Half vellum, 9 1/2 inches tall. A very unusual binding with an extra gilt smooth back and curiously shaped green label. All the edges are gauffered gilt. Very attractive end papers with gilt stars on a blue ground. There is no title page (as issued?),so we have no details of publication. There are several sub title pages. The volume comprises: Memoir; Poems; Miscellanies; The Good-Natured Man; She Stoops to Conquer; Letters from a Citizen of the World; Essays, Etc. etc.; The Vicar of Wakefield. Double column. Some rubbing and marking but overall a fine copy.

London: Collins, c.1905. Half vellum, 7 1/2 inches tall. A very good looking Edwardian vellum binding decorated in the Art Nouveau style with a stylized gilt floral design and ornate label. With numerous illustrations and extra-illustrated with several original photographs dated May 1919 of the Lake District, one particularly picturesque image shows 'The Old Spinning Gallery' at Hartsop Patterdale. There is an ink inscription dated 1905 on the reverse of the free end paper.

Napoli: Gio. Batista, 1818. Full Vellum, 6 1/2 inches tall, A charming Italian 'rustic' full velum from the early 19th century with gilt framed painted labels and blue speckled edges. In Italian.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. Full vellum, 10 inches tall. A pristine example of this fine facsimile reproduction of the first edition of 1609. Bound in full limp vellum with yapp edges and leather ties. There is gilt lettering to the spine and simple paneling to the covers. A super copy.

London: John Murray, 1872. 9 volume set, 7 inches tall. A splendid full vellum bound set of this classic work with raised bands, fine gilt tooled panels and twin labels, double gilt fillets frame the gilt embossed crest of the Hulme Bequest on the boards. Pink edges. Some marks to the bindings and foxing confined to the preliminaries. A handsome set of the greatest work of this English historian and ecclesiastic.

Florence: Baracchi, 1860. 2 volume set, 7 inches tall. A delightful full vellum with a smooth back and very ornate gilt tooling to the spine and boards. Pink edges. With the armorial bookplate of R.P.Stuart. Slight foxing, but a fine copy of this very scarce work by the son of Felicia Hemans.

Paris: Baudouin Fréres, 1824. Half vellum, 8 inches tall. an elegant volume in a neat half vellum binding with gilt pallets and centre tools and contrasting green label. With the bookplate of Vane Londonderry. 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. Engraved frontispiece. Following the revolution, Antoine, the younger brother of the last King of France, fled France and died in exile in England. In the original French.

London: The Stock Keeper Company, 1899. Half vellum, 11 1/4 inches tall. A splendid example of the scarce first edition in original half vellum with gilt titles and pallets on the spine and gilt decorated cloth upper board. All edges gilt. With colour frontispiece and photographic illustrations throughout.

London: Harding, Triphook, and Lepard, 1824. 2 volume set, 8 1/2 inches tall. A smart Georgian half vellum with gilt bands, gilt centre tools, twin labels and pink speckled edges. With the bookplates of Vane Londonderry. 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. Splendid engraved frontispiece to the first volume. Henry IV, known as 'The Great' was the first Bourbon monarch of France.

Göttingen: Ruprecht, 1807. 6 volume set, 7 inches tall. A handsome full vellum with calf labels, some chipped. Foxing. A set of Livy's Histories in the original Latin edited by Georg Alexander Rupert. From an Oxfordshire Country House.

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.

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.

Paris: Curmer, 1858. 2 volume set, 10.5 inches tall. A simple but pleasing mid 19th century full vellum with gilt bands, dentelles and all edges gilt. Each page decorated with wide lithographic borders. With the gilt stamp of 'Schafer of Piccadilly', purveyors of luxury items. A fine set of this classic Christian guide based on the monastic practice of devotional reading by the 'Gentleman Saint'.

London: Dent, 1906. Full vellum, 7.5 inches tall. A delightful copy of this scarcer title from the 'The series of English Idylls' collection. With 24 colour plates by C. E. Brock. An unusually nice 'unbowed' example

Augsburg (Augustae Vindelicorum): Sumptibus ignatii adami & Francisci Antonii Veith, 1759. 6 volume set, 14.5 inches tall. Full vellum, dating from the middle of the 18th century with gilt tooled labels and unusual pink and green edges. The Codex Regularum, created in Aachen in 817, was designed by Benedict to restore the strict observation of monastic life which had been relaxed over recent centuries. Complete sets in contemporary bindings are scarce. There is some scuffing and staining to the vellum, in particular at the tails of each volume but there is no splitting and the bindings are in excellent condition. 2 bookplates. In the original Latin.

Paris: Charles Hingray, c.1840. Vellum, 4.5 inches tall. A delightful little volume in full vellum with red calf label, gilt pallets and pink edges. A charming work containing useful everyday phrases such as "I'd have killed myself, had I not been restrained by the remembrance of her", "Give me my drawers, stockings and pantaloons" and "Then I shall have spared that wretch but for my own ruin".

London: Dent, 1904. Full vellum, 8 inches tall. A most attractive binding with dense gilt floral tooling to the spine and boards. With 25 colour plates by Brock. A charming edition of this classic eighteenth century novel.

London: Dove, 1827. Full vellum, 5 inches tall. A beautiful little vellum binding with label and fine gilt tooled panels, the boards are framed within a blue outline. A particularly clean copy inside and out. A collection of letters critical to George III, the true authorship has been much debated but never verified.

London: T. Cadell, 1788. 4 volume set, 8.75 inches tall. A wonderful full vellum, bound by Christian Kalthoeber, one of the greatest bookbinders of the period, and with his ticket. With delightful twin blue titles edged with several ornate pallets. Double fillets frame the boards. Yellow edges. There has been some loss to the foot of the fourth volume due to ancient water damage. This has not affected the text nor taken away the overall splendid look of the set.

London: J.F. Dove, 1826. Full vellum, 5 inches tall. A delightful little full vellum with gilt bands and delicate gilt tooling to the panels. A blue fillet frames the boards. With 'The Life of Robert Burns' by Dr. Currie. Engraved frontispiece and title page.