The Old Free State, A Contribution to the History of Lunenburg County and Southside Virginia, 2 Volume set INSCRIBED

A wonderful and increasingly scarce two-volume set of The Old Free State by Bell, published in 1927 by The William Byrd Press, Printers, Richmond, Virginia. This handsome set is made even more desirable by a 1933 author inscription, adding both historical charm and collectible appeal. Landon Covington Bell (1881thru 1960) was a Virginia historian, attorney, and respected scholar of Southside Virginia history. Best known for his landmark two-volume work The Old Free State (1927), Bell devoted years to documenting the people, families, and Civil War history of Lunenburg County and the surrounding region. His research remains an important genealogical and historical resource nearly a century later. A signed copy represents not only a collectible book, but a personal connection to one of Virginia’s dedicated early 20th-century historians. Both volumes are bound in classic blue cloth with embossed spines that remain intact and attractive. The covers show only light, age-appropriate wear with very slight bumping to the corners. For books approaching a century in age, they present remarkably well on the shelf. The interiors are clean and well-preserved, free from writing or highlighting. Each volume contains a neatly handwritten former owners name and address along with an address label. Volume I shows minor gouging and some bending at the very top edge of about twenty pages, importantly, the text is fully unaffected, and the binding and spine remain in very good condition. Volume II has a few tears and small rips confined to several index pages, again without loss of content. Its binding shows slightly more use than Volume I but remains solid and fully functional. (BR) Shelf 175.…