Title: The Origin and Progress of the Art of ...
Publisher: Day and Son, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn
Publication Date: 1855
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Edition: 2nd
viii, 176pp gilt all edges. 28 plates all present and correct. All 12 chromolithographic plates are signed H.N.Humphreys. Lith.Day & Son. Lith.rs to the Queen. All 16 black and white plates are signed 'Printed by Paul Jerrard, 111 Fleet St'. Marbled end papers. All edges gilt. Small marginal tear near the foot of page 51. Blank preliminary and final leaves slightly foxed. Pages evenly toned throughout. 19.5 x 27 cm. Contemporary black papier mache with crimson backing paper (small section of one segment of the crimson backing paper near the bottom edge of the front cover slightly degraded). Professionally rebacked in black morocco spine with gilt lettering and ruling. Both covers have original moulded central title lettering entwined by large acanthus leafed stem, within triple fillets and a scrolling foliate border. There is one very tiny repair to the papier mache near the spine on the top edge of the back cover. This second edition has a full-page illustration on page 58 of Ruari McLean "Victorian Publishers' Book-bindings in Paper" (1983). Originally priced at one guinea. WorldCat locates just four copies of the second edition. This is a rare survivor because the papier mache binding is vulnerable to any mishandling. Bookseller Inventory # 4489