About this Item
Full-Leather. No Jacket. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. A beautiful two-volume set in VERY GOOD condition; full calf, rich patina, fore-edges of covers gilted. First Edition. Tight bindings, minor expert restorations on spine and covers; gilt-on-black spine labels reproduced expertly. Hardly a blemish, beyond normal bumps and rubs on corners. Paper is crisp, text clean. Books are 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches. One page in Volume Two is partly loose, but not noticeable. Some foxing at end papers. Original tissue guards in place on frontispiece and on interior full-page engravings of "distinguished persons." A score of music is at end of Volume Two. These volumes have hundreds of anecdotal sketches of important people, many deeply revealing and completely fresh. To Pick one at random, on Mary, Queen of Scots: "This unfortunate princess, soon after she had observed how fatally she had been mistaken in trusting to the friendship and kindness of Queen Elizabeth, wrote with a diamond on the window of the castle of Fotheringhay: 'From the top of all my trust/Mishap has laid me in the dust.' The bishop who preached the sermon at her funeral.was despicable enough to say, 'Let us give thanks for the happy dissolution of the high and mighty princess Mary." A handsome and fascinating set of books. LATER NOTE: TISSUE REPAIR ON FRONT COVER OF VOLUME ONE HAS FAILED, THS COVER IS LOOSE. STILL, A MAGNIFICENT PAIR, EASILY REPAIRED. Seller Inventory # 000272
Bibliographic Details
Title: Biographiana (Two Volumes)
Publisher: J. Johnson, LONDON
Publication Date: 1799
Binding: Full Leather
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition
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