Binding:  Publisher's brick-colored cloth, front cover decoratively stamped in black and gilt withthree affixed CHROMOLITHOGRAPHIC illustrations of children at play.

•  Binding as above, spine and extremities moderately worn, small spots of light discoloration mostly confined to spine and edges. Pages faintly age-toned with intermittent light spotting; six images with early hand-coloring as above. Really, a very pleasing copy anda covetable gift for anyone who appreciates the joys of childhood.  (30281)

•  Publisher's maroon cloth, front cover with gilt-stamped title and vignette of an invalid, spine with gilt-stamped title; minor wear to edges and extremities, spine with small area of discoloration at head. Ex–social club library with one of its most attractive bookplates on front pastedown, title-page pressure-stamped, small inked numeral on dedication page, no other library markings. Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription. Pages slightly age-toned, otherwise clean.  (27183)

•  Recent paper wrappers. Reverse of the title-page and one other page with institutional stamps; a few pages with pencilled marginalia, otherwise clean.

•  Publisher's brown cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; binding slightly cocked, corners and spine extremities rubbed, gilt partially oxidized (quiet attractively). Back hinge tender. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled ownership inscription. Early portions of text with pencilled emphasis marks and some underlining. All edges red. A nifty period piece.  (20333)

•  Garrison B15. Publisher’s printed paper–covered boards, darkened, most notably over spine. Front free endpaper with pencilled owner’s name. Pages slightly age-toned.

•  Garrison A45.1.a, binding A, jacket A. Publisher’s blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold, in original printed paper dustwrapper with price; binding clean and unworn save for minor wear to spine extremities, dustjacket with cream portions slightly darkened and small edge nicks to front panel and spine.

•  NSTC 2W17788.   Original wrappers, front wrapper chipped at edges, back wrapper chipped at inner edge and with paper remnants affixed at top. Leaves loose (wrappers included). Long tear in fore-margin of title-leaf and small chips in inner margins of title- and final leaves. Some short marginal tears. Small chips to lower outer margins. Lengthwise fold mark. (8931)

Binding:  Publisher's deeply waved terra-cotta cloth of Krupp's style Wav6, front cover with gilt-stamped title and blind-stamped frame.

•  Binding: Krupp, Bookcloth in England and America, 1823--50, p. 43.   Binding as above, corners/edges slightly rubbed and spine pulled at top; interior with an upper corner bumped. A very attractive, clean copy.  (26714)

•  Publisher's quarter cloth with printed and illustrated sides. Endpapers printed. Covers soiled, worn over edges, corners bumped. Hinges (inside) reinforced, covers a bit wobbly. Complete. Good overall. (6090)

Binding:  Publisher's muted brown cloth, front cover and spine with stylized rose, leaf, and thorn design stamped in gilt, black, and red. Unsigned.

•  Binding as above, corners and spine extremities lightly rubbed, spine with two small scrapes, and gilt slightly dimmed; an eye-catching binding design and attractive overall. Frontispiece recto with early inked gift inscription. A few faint smudges, one leaf with short tear from lower margin not touching text. Quite a nice copy.  (28865)

With an advertisement on the back for "Wilkes's Spirit of the Times. The American Gentleman's Newspaper. A Chronicle of the Turf, Field Sports, the Army and the Stage."

•  Miles 485. Original wrappers. Removed from a nonce volume.

Binding:  Publisher's quarter red textured cloth over gold paper–covered sides, front cover with George Wevill's (signed) chromolithographic illustration in red, green, black, brown, and blue of a “perfect” orator wearing a toga — and also, wearingmagnificent Victorian whiskers!

•  Binding as above, moderately worn overall with small spots of discoloration. Title-page with inked ownership inscription dated 1872. Pages slightly age-toned; three leaves with faint lines of waterstaining in outer margins. With endpapers, 10 pages of ads present — and interesting.  (28444)

Willis himself was the founder of the magazine that became the Home Journal, and was celebrated in his day for his essays and travel writings as well as several collections of his journalistic work. The Cambridge History of American Literature calls him the “prince of magazinists,” and remarks on “the evanescent sparkle and glancing brilliance” of A L'abri, later known as Letters from under a Bridge. These charming, witty essays touch on Willis's Yale education (and its lack of practical application!); fishing; a dinner with Lady Blessington, Benjamin Disraeli, Count D'Orsay, and Lord Durham; the possibility of local railroad construction to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie; the relationship of American to British literature, etc. Whatever the ostensible topics of the individual letters, each touches in affectionate and amusing fashion on some aspect of life in the Susquehanna region.

A publishing practice, demonstrated: Bound in at the back of this volume are yellow printed paper wrappers for John Smith's Letters, and the title-page and preface for Fireside Education — both items published by Colman in the same year as the present work.

•  BAL 22752 (spine label in first state, cloth described as “Brown S cloth “); American Imprints 59260; Fearing, Check List of Books on Angling, Fishing, Fisheries, Fish-Culture, etc., 135; Sabin 104504. On Willis, see: Cambridge History of American Literature online.   Publisher's brown cloth embossed with floret and dash pattern, spine with printed paper label; corners rubbed, and spine cloth chipped with paper label chipped and darkened. Front free endpaper with early pencilled ownership inscription. Foxing throughout; occasional pencilled marginalia and marks of emphasis.  (25806)

This work is rarely found in the deluxe binding: The handsomely gilt-stamped publisher's cloth is the norm.

•  NSTC 2W24418; Allibone 2762.   For binding, see: Morris & Levin, Art of Publisher's Bookbindings, 44. Binding as above, showing minor wear to extremities and front cover vignette, original silk bookmark detached and laid in. Volume slightly shaken with text block starting to pull away from spine; this is the kind of volume that wants to do that, and the reader will want to “cradle” it in hand — that done, no worries. Front fly-leaf with early pencilled gift inscription and with a Maine druggist's small ticket. Mild to moderate foxing. Both funny and decorative, in a publisher's binding that may fairly be called “DAZZLING.”  (26748)

•  Publisher's brown paper–covered boards, front cover with title and author's signature stamped in black, and with affixed printed paper illustration; without dust-jacket, paper mottled, edges and extremities rubbed, front cover with two small scrapes. A few faint smudges to some pages, otherwise clean.  (29138)

This has a very pretty engraved title-page, acting as frontispiece; between the arched words “Bridal Greetings,” above and below, is a bridal bouquet of emblematic flowers, signed F.E. Jones.

Binding:  Publisher's textured red cloth, covers framed in blind, front cover with gilt-stamped rose vignette, spine gilt extra. All edges gilt.

•  Not in Faxon.   Binding as above, cocked, extremities lightly rubbed, front cover with tiny dark spatter; joints each with small instance of insect damage. Front free endpaper with pencilled annotation. Moderate foxing throughout.  (30370)

•  Folded, never bound. Uncut, mostly unopened.  (456)

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The printed Career is followed in this little volume by an extended manuscript section containing neatly written excerpts from Wooley’s Science of the Bible or an Analysis of the Hebrew Mythology.

•  Contemporary half calf over textured cloth, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label and gilt-ruled raised bands; front cover detached, leather scuffed. All page edges marbled. Upper portion of front free endpaper torn away; two front fly-leaves partially excised. Back free endpaper with pencilled owner’s name. Printed portion very slightly age-toned, with faint creasing to first section.

Binding:  Russell-Rutter Company binding of quarter dark green morocco with green linen–covered sides, front cover with embossed portrait in black.

This is numbered copy 972 of 1500 printed, signed by the illustrator at the colophon. The appropriate LEC newsletter is laid in, noting that this volume is part of the LEC's British poets series.

•  Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 425.   Binding as above, in original glassine wrapper and black paper-covered slipcase with gold spine label; spine leather very slightly, almost unnoticeably sunned, book otherwise clean and fresh. Wrapper with spine darkened and torn, with loss; one side of slipcase with two faint scratches, overall showing only minimal wear. Book/slipcase as a whole in beautiful clean condition; book's pages crisp. (30088)