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THE BOOK-HUNTER ETC.
(Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1862). 177 x 110 mm. (6 7/8 x 4 1/4"). viii, 384 pp. First Edition in Book Form.
HANDSOME MAHOGANY BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT IN A GROLIERESQUE STYLE, BY H. WOOD (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers flamboyantly gilt with strapwork, spiraling vines, and fleurs-de-lys, raised bands, spine compartments with lily centerpiece, gilt titling, turn-ins with gilt-ruled frame, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Title with woodcut border in the style of early printed Books of Hours, woodcut headpieces and initials of similar design. ◆A VERY FINE COPY, quite clean and fresh internally in a lustrous, unworn binding.
Offered here in a binding sure to please any book-hunter, this is the collected form of an amusing series of related articles, originally appearing in "Blackwood's Magazine," on the various personal characteristics of the book collector, his functions (especially in terms of the betterment of society), and his organized associations or collecting clubs. Done in the entrelac style favored by 16th century bibliophile Jean Grolier, our binding was probably produced in the first third of the 20th century, and it is possible that the binder is the "H. Wood" listed in Packer as having established a business in 1890, or else a descendent. Mirjam Foote mentions an H. T. Wood in her article on Thomas Harrison in "Designer Bookbinder Review" (and reprinted, in part, in "Studies in the History of Bookbinding"), where she talks about Harrison as manager at Zaehnsdorf. Later, presumably as a step up, he became manager "at H. T. Wood, whose proprietor he eventually became, and where his drive raised the firm's old [i.e., already established] reputation for high quality bindings." The firm was taken over in 1939 by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. (ST15788)
Price: $1,250.00