Beschreibung:

FORE-EDGE PAINTINGS] Elegant extracts from the most prose writers ...; Elegant Epistles; being a copious selection of instructive, moral, and entertaining letters...; Elegant extracts from the most eminent British poets. London: John Sharpe, [circa 1825]. Eighteen volumes, bound in full period straight grained purple morocco, full gilt covers and spines, all edges gilt, each volume with a fine double fore-edge of a London view. The collection is housed in a specially-made purple morocco covered book case of the period, with glazed door, brass feet and handles, covered with leather gilt and tooled to match, lined with green velvet, lettered along the door "Temple of the Muses," presumably after the building of that name that housed the establishment of the bookseller-publisher John Lackington. Bindings 5 1/8 x 3 3/8 (13 x 8.5 cm); the extraordinary case 16 1/4 x 13 3/4 at the base (41.5 x 35 cm); various paginations. A complete list of the fore-edge paintings is available upon application. Light wear to case, overall in an excellent state of preservation, the books immaculate. There is a lock, but the key is no longer present. A magnificent presentation of a group of very well painted fore-edges, one of two such that we offer in this sale. The case appears to be absolutely contemporary with the bindings, a high-Victorian extravaganza. The collection comes with two copies of an elaborate descriptive book prepared by the well-known London bookseller H.M. ("Bill") Fletcher, probably aetat 1930s, that incorporates a description of the collection, photographs of all the fore-edges calligraphically labelled, and much else. One of the most elaborate presentations of a collection of fore-edge paintings we have seen. C