French Signed Bindings in the Mortimer L. Schiff Collection. [With:] British and Miscellaneous Signed Bindings in the Mortimer L. Schiff Collection. By Seymour de Ricci.

First edition, together 4 vols., large 4to (289 x 270 mm), with over 300 reproductions of bindings, orig. publishers blue buckram, extremities lightly rubbed, uncut. Of French 18th and 19th century signed bindings the Schiff collection was remarkably fine and certainly the most comprehensive brought together by a single collector. In this catalogue, beginning with Monnier and Padeloup and ending with Trautz-Bauzonnet, each binding is given a highly detailed description so as to register clearly the idiosyncrasies of each binder, and every binding of any importance is reproduced in a full-size photograph (except for a dozen very large volumes). In many cases the doublures and inner dentelles are also reproduced and all binders' stamps and tickets are given in facsimile. The British and miscellaneous section is treated in the same meticulous manner, British bookbinding being represented chiefly by binders of the 18th and early 19th centuries.