This beautiful, antique hardback edition of Stories from Shakespeare was published by George Harrap in 1914. The book is bound in red cloth with stunning floral detail to the front board and spine - the decoration has an art nouveau style to it.
The book is in remarkably good condition for its age but there are signs of wear. The corners are worn and lightly crushed and there is rubbing and light bumping to the board edges. The boards show some soiling and marking and the spine is noticeably sunned. There is rubbing to the spine edges and crushing to the spine ends - this has caused some minor splitting in the cloth at the spine ends.
Inside, there is a written inscription on the front free endpaper and a stamped number on the front pastedown. The pages show age toning and scattered foxing throughout, with occasional minor marks. There are some superficial cracks to the gutter in places but the pages remain tightly bound. It appears a few of the pages may have been uncut and a previous reader has separated them by hand - which has left some jagged edges.
The book features sixteen full-page illustration plates by Gertrude Demain Hammond. The page edges are rough cut.
Dimensions of the book are approximately 21.3cm 15.5cm x 3.7cm.
The book will arrive hand wrapped in patterned wallpaper and string. The bubble wrap I use is 100% oxo-degradable 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.