This beautiful early Victorian edition of The Poetical Works (lyrical and dramatic) of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was published by Bickers and Bush in 1856. The book is bound in full Morocco leather with beautiful blind stamped decoration to the boards. There are four raised bands to the spine and gilt lettering. The text block edges are all gilt and feature beautiful gauffered detailing. Gauffering describes the act of applying a patterned decoration to the text block edges of a book.
It's in very good condition, with just some wear and minor loss to the surface of the leather at the corners and board edges. There are some small chips to the leather on the boards as well. There are some minor marks to the back board and faint sunning to the spine, with rubbing to the spine ends.
Inside, the endpapers are marbled and there is a written name and date on the title page. The pages show light age toning and very occasional foxing but the text is clear and bright.
Dimensions approximately 17.6cm x 13.5cm x 4.3cm.
The book will arrive hand wrapped in patterned wallpaper and ribbon.
I use a range of eco friendly, 100% recyclable jiffy bags and boxes, and whenever possible I use brown paper tape. The green bubble wrap is oxo-degradable and the clear bubble wrap is 100% recyclable. I also reuse boxes when I feel it's appropriate (if the boxes are sturdy enough).