Mark Akenside was a British poet and Physician. He is best known for his poem 'The Pleasures of Imagination', an eclectic philosophical essay in poetic form. It was first published in 1744 in three books and a fourth book was added later. The whole poem was extensively revised and it finally appeared posthumously in 1772. These two small volumes are a later printing (1781) of this work from 1772. These books are classic 32mo in size which is quite small (3 1/4" wide by 5" tall"). They are bound in half calf over marbled boards. The spine labels are red morroco. The bindings are tight and the b... View More...
John Brown (1810-1882) was a Scottish physician and friend of Thackeray and Ruskin. He wrote primarily on non-technical subjects related to medicine and to the problems of the doctor. He had a general interest in, and a sympathy for all humanity. The three volumes of "Horae Subsecivae" (Leisure Hours) were his principal and first literary work. He had previously published some medical papers. The first volume of Horae was on medical subjects and the second and third volume were on general subjects. All the volumes are deserving of our attention because they are full of penetrating commentary o... View More...
This is a very nice volume from 1814. Its size is 12mo and It contains two works. The first is 'Poetical Vagaries' by George Coleman the younger, and the second is 'Vagaries Vindicated' by the same author. The second work is 'addressed to the Reviewers' so I would guess that Coleman is responding to his critics. Both works are second edition and were published in 1814. The binding is half-leather over paper boards and the binding is tight. There is an old external repair to the leather spine of the book and the boards have been professionally reattached. There is a name written on the inside f... View More...
George Eliot was one of our finest 19th century novelists. She was also responsible for Silas Marner as well as The Mill on the Floss. The is a gorgeous three volume set of the First edition of Felix Holt: The Radical. The volumes are in half-leather over marbled boards and the endpapers are marbled as well. The spines are finely and intricately decorated in gilt and all of the edges are marbled. The textblocks are absolutely clean with no foxing and the book is printed on woven paper. There is a very small bit of soiling to the half-title and the verso of the ffep in volume two but it does no... View More...
The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams is the full title of this work. The novel has often been called the first realistic novel of English Literature. Henry Fielding (author of Tom Jones) turned aside from the episodic sentimental writing of his age to give an honest picture of the manners and customs of his time and to satirize the foibles and vanities of human nature. This novel is in the form of a comic epic and the time of the plot is the early eighteenth century in England. This copy is in near fine condition and it is bound in half-leather o... View More...
This three volume set, bound in half-leather is the First edition of 'Quentin Durward', one of Sir Walter Scott's forty-eight Waverly novels. The leather is bound over marbled boards and there is general wear to the set as we might expect in a book published in 1823. However , the bindings are solid and probably contemporary to the publication. There is some rubbing and there are a few small chips with one chip at the top compartment of the spine of volume three. If desired, these could be repaired. The textblocks are virtually completely clean with a spot of foxing here and there mostly at th... View More...
For those who are interested in the works of Sir Walter Scott, this set is a real find. The poetical works of Scott are more important than those of many authors because poetry is how he began his career and he never really stopped telling stories in verse. His fascination with his own country's native poetry led him to compile and publish his first work, The Minstrelsy of the Southern Border. After this he began to write full length books in verse such as The Lay of the Last Minstrel and The Lady of the Lake. Scott was a true scholar of literature as well as poetry and these twelve volumes co... View More...
St. Ronan's Well has been called "unique" among the Waverly novels. These beautiful books are bound with a blindstamped leather spine and red leather that encloses the entire perimeter of the front and back boards which are marbled. All edges are also marbled as are the endpapers. This is probably a binding that is near contemporary to the book. It is quite an unusual binding. There is some slight chipping to volume one near the spine on the front board and very slight wear to the other volumes. The half-titles are not present. We find this quite a bit in Scott's novels because many of the bin... View More...
These beautiful books were bound at the world famous Bayntun Bindery and they are collectible if for that reason only. But here we have one of the Great classics written by Sir Walter Scott. These books are all First editions and First printings and they are in very fine condition. They are bound in half-leather with gilt ornamentation on both the front and rear boards of each volume. The spines have six compartments and they are lettered and beautifully decorated in gilt. The top edges are also gilt. All half-titles are present and the volumes are tightly bound. There is no foxing to the text... View More...
From the author of Vanity Fair, Sultan Stork is a wonderful Thackeray collection of twenty three stories, poems, articles, and reviews that had originally been published in magazine form by Ainsworth's Magazine in 1842. This is the 1867 First edition in book form and the volume also contains a bibliographical list arranged in chronological order of the published writings in prose and verse and the sketches and drawings of Thackeray from 1829-1886. The book is fully indexed and it is in beautiful condition. It is bound in half-leather with brown leather over blue marbled boards. The endpapers a... View More...
After the Publication of 'Pendennis' in December of 1850, Thackeray announced (going against the stated opinions of several friends), that he would try his hand at lecturing. Thackeray himself was somewhat embarrassed by this method of making money and would probably have not done so if he had not been concerned with leaving his daughters well-provided (He had just been through a serious illness). Nevertheless, this decision led to a series of brilliant essays on The English Humourists of the Eighteenth century, The writers of this period had always been Thackeray's favorite reading. Thackeray... View More...
This Fine two-volume set is the First edition of this title. William Makepeace Thackeray was also the author of Vanity Fair and Pendennis. The books are bound in half-leather over marbled boards. There are ornate gilt decorations to the spines and the gilt is still bright and beautiful. The lettering on the spines has some fading but is still legible. The endpapers are also marbled and these volumes contain many illustrations on wood and steel by Richard Doyle. The tissue guards over the vignette title pages are present and in excellent condition. The textblocks are clean with no foxing and th... View More...
