AINSWORTH, WILLIAM HARRISON.

THE NOVELS.

(New York: J. F. Taylor and Company, 1903). 178 x 114 mm (7 x 4 1/2"). 20 volumes. The "Cabinet Edition" (this is copy #74). ONE OF 1,000 COPIES.

VERY ATTRACTIVE CONTEMPORARY CRIMSON HALF MOROCCO, each volume with three raised bands, spines gilt with elongated lower compartment featuring a graceful long-stemmed rose, and smaller top compartment a sprig of leaves (middle two compartments with gilt titling), marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt. With 87 plates, most with original tissue guards printed in red. Front flyleaf of first volume with five-line wedding gift presentation in ink from Mrs. George Bott dated 1968. One frontispiece with narrow area of light brown staining right at bottom edge (well away from the illustration), two leaves with quarter-inch tears at the top or bottom edge, other quite trivial imperfections, but A FINE COPY OF THIS QUITE PRETTY SET, with lustrous bindings showing virtually no wear, and the text essentially without signs of use.

The 12 novels contained in our 20 volumes include Ainsworth's earlier works, considered his best: "Rookwood" (1834), the book that made him an overnight success; "Crichton" (1837); "Jack Sheppard" (1839); "Tower of London" (1840); "Guy Fawkes" (1841); "Old Saint Paul's, a Tale of the Plague and the Fire of London" (1841); "The Miser's Daughter" (1842); "Windsor Castle" (1843); "St. James's, or the Court of Queen Anne" (1844); "Star Chamber" (1854); "The Flitch of Bacon, or the Custom of Dunmow" (1854); and "Spendthrift" (1856). The plates here are photogravures taken mostly from original etchings by Hablott K. Browne and George Cruikshank, while the title page design is by Frank Brangwyn. The bindings, done in a restrained Art Nouveau style and incorporating unusually appealing gold-veined marbled paper, are not as decorative as those in the preceding entry, but they are made from high quality materials and present an attractively elegant appearance. For more on Ainsworth, see previous item. (CTB0802)