Hudibras By Samuel Butler: With Dr. Grey's Annotations. In Three Volumes; [with] The Genuine Poetical Remains of Samuel Butler with Notes by Robert Thye; [incorporating] Illustrations of Hudibras Sixty Portraits of Celebrated Political and Literary Characters, Impostors and Enthusiasts Alluded to Butler in His Hudibras [together, 5 volumes bound as 4]

This beautiful set of 4 finely bound volumes (which can be described as 'extra-illustrated'). Uniformly bound in full crimson 19th-century morocco for Estes & Lauriat of Boston (with their tiny blindstamp), spines with raised bands and elaborate gilt floral & pointillist tooling within gilt-ruled compartments, covers feature an outer border of three gilt fillets, surrounding gilt center panels formed by four fillets and a wave-form surround, each corner accented by a floral device, gilt-tooled inner dentelles, edges extra-gilt, marbled endpapers (the first volume of 'Hudibras' and 'Remains' have been expertly rebacked in red leather preserving the original spines; some rubbing to spines and boards; minor nicking to spine tips). This beautiful, uniformly bound set includes 3 separately published works originally issued as 5 volumes: 1) 'Hudibras', issued in 3 volumes by Charles & Henry Baldwyn, 1819, which is the deluxe large-paper version with the illustrations in their earliest state on India paper mounted; 2) 'Remains' issued in 1 volume by Joseph Booker in 1827, also the deluxe large-paper version with the illustrations in their earliest state on India paper mounted; 3) Illustrations of Hudibras Sixty Portraits of Celebrated Political and Literary Characters, Impostors and Enthusiasts Alluded to Butler in His Hudibras. The 60 fine engraved portrait plates from this work have been bound into 'Hudibras' as extra illustrations. PROVENANCE: nautical-themed bookplate of Ezra Howes Baker and Esther Mary Hitchcock in each volume.…