Beschreibung:

THIBAUDEAU, A.W. Catalogue of the collection of Autograph Letters and Historical Documents formed between 1865 and 1882 by Alfred Morrison . London: Strangeways & Sons, 1883-1892. 6 volumes, 4° (385 x 290mm). Titles printed in red and black, numerous heliogravures printed by Lemercier & Co and signatures reproduced, uncut. (Surface dirt on exposed edges, some very occasional unobtrusive spotting and very light discolouration to a few leaves only.) Original half cloth and paper spine labels (small area of loss to upper cover of vol. I, extremities rubbed, covers slightly discoloured). RARE AT AUCTION. Number 126 of 200 copies of this monumental catalogue of one of the greatest collections of autograph letters and historical documents formed in the Nineteenth Century. Alfred Morrison (1821-1897) spent the last thirty years of his life forming a choice and extraordinary collection of manuscripts: a collection, 'perhaps never rivalled by any private person, no less remarkable for its extent than for its completeness and historical and literary interest' ( DNB ), noted for its wealth of documents and letters relating to the public and private life of the most eminent European figures, and particularly well-regarded for items representing British, Italian, and French persons. DNB describes him as 'a man of fastidious taste' and 'a devoted and discriminating collector'. Morrison did not limit himself to any particular field, accumulating douments concerning science, literature, art, history, politics, and government, and he accumulated examples that ranged in date from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. The collection has since been dispersed. (6)