This beautiful antique edition of The Story Without an End by Sarah Austin was published by Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington in 1879 - 11 years after the first edition. It's a scarce book in the original publisher's full cloth binding. It features blind stamped decoration in black and gilt to the front board.
It tells the story of a child's journey of discovery through the natural world. It was originally a German tale written by Friedrich Wilhelm Carové, but was translated to English by Sarah Austin. It is filled with chromolithographic plates by Eleanor Vere Boyle.
***Sadly one plate is missing***
The book is in good condition for it's age, but there is wear and fraying to the cloth at the corners, with the cloth split to reveal the board peeking through beneath. There is also bumping to the corners and the book shows a very slight forward lean. There is some light marking to the boards and a faint stain to the front board. The spine edges are rubbed and crushing to the spine ends has caused minor splitting in the cloth. The spine is very slightly darkened.
Inside, there is cracking to the hinges and the pages show age toning throughout with sporadic marking. Some of the tissue guards have wear and tear around the edges. There is a neatly written inscription opposite the half title page and the pages show light discolouration and foxing to the edges, with some minor loss to the paper. As mentioned above, one plate is missing.
Dimensions approximately 26cm x 19cm x 1.3cm.
The book will arrive hand wrapped in patterned wallpaper and string. The bubble wrap I use is 100% biodegradable and the jiffy bags are recyclable.
Where possible, I use 100% recyclable paper tape, but sometimes I have to use clear plastic tape for extra strength.