This beautiful antique edition of Faust A Tragedy by Goethe was published by Ward, Lock and Co in 1890. So the book is from the latter part of the Victorian era.
The book is bound in half calf leather with four raised bands and gilt tooling to the spine. It features marbled text block edges and marbled paper boards. The book is in near fine condition and is a very attractive binding. There is some wear to the corners and minor loss to the leather. The spine is lightly sunned and the top edge of the text block is a little dulled.
Inside, the endpapers are beautifully marbled to compliment the text block edges and boards. There are no written inscriptions or writings of any kind. The pages show age toning and sporadic foxing throughout - most noticeable to the preliminary pages and the last few pages. The text is clear and bright.
The book features striking black and white illustration plates by Retzsch. The tissue guard for the frontispiece is detached.
Dimensions approximately 18.2cm x 13cm x 3.5cm.
The book will arrive hand wrapped in patterned wallpaper and string.
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 biodegradable and the clear bubble wrap is 100% recyclable. I also reuse boxes when I feel it's appropriate (if the boxes are sturdy enough).