THE LION AND THE ROSE. (THE GREAT HOWARD STORY)

235 x 157 mm. (9 1/4 x 6 1/4"). Two volumes. PLEASING CRIMSON CRUSHED MOROCCO, ELABORATELY GILT, BY STIKEMAN & CO. (stamp-signed on rear turn-in), covers gilt in a Grolieresque design, raised bands, spines gilt in compartments with a stylized azured floral spray. With 16 photogravure portrait plates. ◆Light wear to joints, occasional minor foxing, otherwise a fine set, internally clean and bright, and in lustrous bindings. Offered in very attractive bindings by an eminent bindery, this is an historical work of some interest by an underappreciated Australian novelist. Ethel Florence Richardson, using the pen name of Henry Handel Richardson (1870-1946), wrote novels, short stories, and journals, but her writing did not attract notice until she was in her 60s. At that time, she gained considerable acclaim, being nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1932. The present set is an historical account of the dukes of the great Howard family, the first volume being titled "Norfolk Line 957-1646" and the second "Suffolk Line 1603-1917."During the period from the retirement of William Matthews to the establishment of the Club Bindery, there was no better binder in America than Henry Stikeman, who exhibited "extraordinary skill . . . in design, inlaying, and tooling." (Maser Collection) Stikeman's firm did high-end publisher's bindings as "bread and butter" work, and luxurious gilt-tooled bindings for collectors.…