Essays by Birrell Augustine, Signed (4 results)

FIRST EDITION, ASSOCIATION COPY with Author's signed note pasted-in. 8vo. green cloth hardback, gilt. 214pp. plus 1p. advertisements at end. Many newspaper cuttings concerned with the Bodleian and an engraved print portrait of Sir Thomas Bodley pasted-in at front and rear. A signed note from the Author is tipped-in to ffep along with a typewritten note about him from the DNB (please see photo). Bookplate to front pastedown of Herbert Grant Smith, member and editor of the Charles Lamb Society and modern armorial bookplate to verso of ffep. Untrimmed foredge a little foxed. Gilt titles to spine very faded and green cloth rather faded with rubbing to edges. Overall a Good Association Copy. (Shelf 200) PLEASE NOTE: Buyer is responsible for any additional duties, taxes, or fees required by recipient's country.** Pictures available upon request.** Visit our homepage for our shop opening hours. Over 20,000 books in stock - come and browse. PayPal, credit and most debit cards welcome. Books posted worldwide. For any queries please contact us direct.

xxii, 294 / xi, 254 pagestrimmed paper on u; both volumes with engraved frontispices under tissue-guards, many illustrations in the text and on plates. - Gilt-decorated and -titled brown half-morocco bindings over 5 raised bands (signed 'Douglas & Foulis[,] Edinburgh') with brown-cloth panels, leather corners and ocre-marbled endpapers, topedges gilt; 8vo.(ca. 19 x 11 x 4 cm; ca. 1 kg.). *** [FRÜHLINGSVERKAUF-Endspurt, noch bis Montag den 25.05.2026 / Ultimate SPRING-SALE, only until Monday May 25th 2026: um über 30% REDUZIERTER PREIS / PRICE-REDUCTION of over 30%; ehemaliger Preis / previously EUR 46,50] --- 4th EDITION ('ESSAY. . . '; 1st: 1899) / FIRST EDITION ('LAST ESSAY. . .'); FIRST EDITIONS ILLUSTRATED THUS, LUXURIOUSLY HANDBOUND BY DOUGLAS & FOULIS. - Leather corners minimally rubbed, frontpanel of Vol. '1' slightly sunned; A BEAUTIFUL SET.

A very good two volume set in matching full leather bindings by Bumpus. 8vo. Vol. I. : pp.xii/pp.254 ; Vol. II. : pp.xxii/pp.294. Tan calf with gilt filet border, edges lightly rubbed. Each spine with 5 raised bands, gilt decorated compartments, and leather title; volume number and date labels. All page edges bright gilt. Tan leather turn-ins. Green end papers. Engraved armorial bookplate to the verso of each front board for "Sir Gervase Beckett Baronet" and signed with the initials: "W.P.B." Binder's stamp to the verso of each front endpaper: "J & E Bumpus Ltd. 380 Oxford Street W." Clean text and illustrations throughout. VG. ** "Sir William Gervase Beckett, 1st Baronet (born William Gervase Beckett-Denison; 14 January 1866 24 August 1937) was a British banker and Conservative politician. He married Mabel Theresa Duncombe (18771913) and they had four daughters, one of whom married Anthony Eden, a British Prime Minister. His wife died in 1913 and he married again so, at the age of 52 years, he had a son." - See WPB Bookplates *** The company J. & E. Bumpus of Oxford Street in London, Booksellers to Queen Victoria, was a notable publisher of personal bookplates. Many of their designs from 1896 to about 1928 were engraved at the lower margin with the initials of William Phillips Barrett (1861-1938), a New Zealander by birth, who was the Manager of Bumpus's shop. Many designs of bookplates dated up to and including 1908 were signed ' W.P.B.'. By adding his initials to some 600 bookplates, he claimed the design when, in fact, most of them were designed by at least five skilled engravers: John Augustus Charles Harrison (1872-1954), Robert Osmond (1874-1959), Charles Brooke Bird (1856-1916), John Edward Syson (1856-1929) and George Ernest Vize (1865-1943). Barrett's job was to persuade clients to order a bookplate to be engraved and then printed by Bumpus, so he was a salesman." - See WPB Bookplates.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Large Paper Edition. Original publisher's green cloth binding with gilt lettering on front cover and spine. Deckled edges. 7 1/4" x 9." 233 pages, complete. Signed and inscribed by the author on half-title in black ink: "Edward J. Leveson, from his Friend and Brother Johnsonian, Augustine Birrell." Birrell has written below this inscription a quote by Samuel Johnson, "The world passes away We are / passing with it; but there is / doubtless another world which / will endure forever [?]. Let us all / [.] for it. I am [.], 'Sam. Johnson.'" Pages and covers are clean and intact overall. Some wear to corners, bottom edge, and head and tail of spine. Slight splitting to tail of spine. Pages are age-toned and have small, occasional marks. Bumping to deckled edges. Offsetting to front and back endpapers. A Very Good copy. A collection of essays about people and subjects of the arts and humanities by Augustine Birrell (1850-1933), a British author, lawyer, and politician who represented the British Liberal Party. The following are the essay titles: "Dean Swift," "Lord Bolingbroke," "Sterne," "Dr. Johnson," "Richard Cumberland," "Alexander Knox and Thomas De Quincey," "Hannah More," "Marie Bashkirtseff," "Sir John Vanebrugh," "John Gay," "Roger North's Autobiography," "Books Old and New," "Book-Binding," "Poets Laureate," "Parliamentary Candidates," "The Bona-Fide Traveller," "'Hours in a Library,'" "Americanisms and Briticisms," and "Authors and Critics.". Inscribed by Author(s).