This beautiful and rare collection of the works of Mrs Elizabeth Gaskell was published in the 1890's by Smith, Elder and Co (the publishing company best known for printing The Brontes works). One of the books is dated 1893 but the rest are undated. The set is incomplete - there should be 8 volumes, so 1 volume is missing (Mary Barton is the missing volume).
Each volume is uniformly bound in a duck egg blue cloth, with delicate gilt detail to the front board and spine. The books are in remarkably good condition for their age. There is general marking to the cloth and light wear to the corners and board edges. The spines show most wear - they are sunned and rubbed, with crushing to the spine ends that has caused some minor splitting. Wives and Daughters has a crease to the spine.
Inside, the pages are clean and bright with occasional marking and foxing. One volume has a written inscription on the front free endpaper. Some of the hinges are cracked, revealing the binding webbing, but the pages remain tightly bound. The endpapers are more noticeably tanned.
The books all feature rough cut pages which is a lovely feature in old books, and adds to the vintage charm.
Dimensions of each volume approximately 16.4cm x 11.5cm.
The books will arrive hand wrapped in bubble wrap, 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).