If you would like any more information or images regarding any book, please send us an email quoting the stock number, which is in the square brackets after the publishing date in each description.If you would like to purchase any book directly with your credit or debit card, please enter the stock number in the field below and click "Search" to be taken to our SECURE ORDER FORM.
Fore-edge Clamp
Finely Hand Crafted
in Solid Mahogany
A beautiful piece of furniture in its own right. Easy to use and ideal
for displaying your fore-edge books in a safe, secure and attractive way.
Please email us for more details.
£300 + V.A.T. and Shipping
[FORE-EDGE; Golf] BARTLETT, John [DOLE, N.H.]. Familiar Quotations. A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature. Revised and Enlarged by Nathaniel Haskell Dole. London: Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1927. [28226]
8vo; pp. xix,1454. Contemporary half red morocco with raised bands and gilt titles to spine, rubbed to extremities; pink cloth boards; marbled end papers. There are 2 fine paintings on the fore-edge of the book, one for each half of the gatherings, showing golf scenes. Photos can be provided. £475
[FORE-EDGE] [BIBLE] [BOYS, Rev. Thomas]. The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. With a plain exposition, for the use of families, by the Rev. Thomas Boys. London: Printed for L.B. Seeley and Sons, 1827. [27674]
4to. Contemporary full diced calf gilt titles and gilt to spine, gilt and blind tooled rule to boards; marbled end papers. There are 4 tableaux in all: the fore edge of the book is divided in 2 halves, each showing 2 religious paintings.
Photos on request. £1,250
[FORE-EDGE. Golf] AYTOUN, W.E. Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and Other Poems. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1883. [23560]
8vo. Contemporary full red crushed morocco with gilt titles and gilt to spine, gilt coat of arms to centre of upper with gilt rule and Fleurs de Lys corner pieces; marbled end papers. Soft and pleasant fore-edge painting of three golfers with one ready to tee. Images can be provided. £375
[FORE-EDGE] (Steeplechasing) Racing and Steeplechasing by The Earl of Suffok & Berkshire, Craven, Coventry and Watson, London, 1901 [26457]
Fine later binding of full green calfskin leather, with gilt titles and horse motifs to the spine. Colour frontispiece and numerous black and white illustrations throughout. Some minor foxing, a few scuffs and bruises to covers. With a fine water colour fore-edge painting of steeplechasers at a fence. £275
[FORE-EDGE; Golf] COWPER, William. The Poetical Works of W. Cowper. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, n.d. (c.1890). [29572]
8vo. Contemporary full red morocco with gilt titles to spine; double gilt rule to boards; charcoal grey end papers. With photoplate illustrations. Light general wear. A beautiful copy. Contains 2 paintings to the fore edge of the book, one on each half, being full length portraits of a golfer and his caddy, both in period costume. Fine. £550
[FORE-EDGE; Golf] ELTON, C.A. (Translator). Hesiod. London: George Routledge and Sons, Limited, 1894. [25745]
8vo. Bound by Bickers in full brown morocco with raised bands and gilt titles to spine; marbled end papers with flower-garland gilt dentelle. A landscape fore-edge painting with golfers. A fine copy. £325
[FORE-EDGE; Hunt Scene] GOLDSMITH, Oliver [DOBSON] [THOMSON, Hugh]. The Vicar of Wakefield. With a Preface by Austin Dobson and Illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: Macmillan and Co., 1890. [28225]
First Hugh Thomson Illustrated Edition in a superb binding by Sotheran of full mid green calf with twin red title labels and extra gilt to spine; double gilt rule to boards; marbled end papers. Publisher’s original gilt entitled and decorated green cloth upper cover to front paste down; the original back cover and spine are at the rear. Generously illustrated throughout with drawings by Thomnson. The painting on the fore edge of the book shows the scene of a hunt in a rural setting, a woman rider to the forefront.
Pictures can be provided. £375
[FORE-EDGE; Thames, London] HALL, Mr. and Mrs. S.C. The Book of the Thames. From its rise to its fall. London: J.S. Virtue and Co., n.d. (c.1880). [29597]
Large 8vo. Contemporary full blue morocco by Ingleton Drake with raised bands and gilt titles to spine; blind rule to boards; yellow end papers. Fine. Generously illustrated throughout. There are 2 paintings of London landmarks on the fore edge of the book, each covering half of the edge. One shows London Bridge and St. Paul’s; the other the House of Parliament. Both are seen from the river Thames, shown in the foreground. £600
[FORE-EDGE; Bible]. The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments. Translated out of the Original Tongues; and with the Former Translations diligently Compared and Revised, by His Majesty’s Special Command. Appointed to be read in Church. Oxford: Printed at the University Press, 1860. [28370]
Folio. Contemporary full black morocco with gilt titles and extra gilt to spine, intricate gilt panelling to boards; inner gilt dentelle and yellow end papers. Large type in two columns. Inscription to James Parkinson Taylor to first free end paper, bookplate of same to paste down; Family Register pages between the Old and New Testaments with hand written notices of same family up to early 1900’s.
The fore edge of this Bible has 10 paintings, 5 to each half gathering. On one half are represented scenes of the Old Testament, with a centre medalion showing Adam and Eve surrounded by 4 tableaux of Samson tearing down the Temple, Moses and the Tables of Law, Moses in the Bull Rushes, and Samson and Delilah. The other half of the fore edge has scenes from the New Testament, with a centre medalion of the Nativity surrounded by 4 tableaux of the Angel of the Lord telling the Sheperds, Christ’s dispute with the Elders, Christ calming the Storm, and Christ rising form the Dead. A beautiful, large and imposing Victorian Bible with a superb array of fine and delightful religious watercolour paintings on its front edge, all invisible when the book is closed.
More pictures available on request. £2,250
If you would like any more information or images regarding any book, please send us an email quoting the stock number, which is in the square brackets after the publishing date in each description.If you would like to purchase any book directly with your credit or debit card, please enter the stock number in the field below and click "Search" to be taken to our SECURE ORDER FORM.
[FORE-EDGE] MONTGOMERY, James The Poetical Works of James Montgomery. Edinburgh, Gall & Inglis c. 1860 [22805]
8vo. Publisher’s full red morocco embossed and bevelled boards with ornate gilt decoration. Illustrated with six fine steel engravings. Green endpapers. A beautifully painted foredge. A fine copy in undamaged condition. £375
[FORE-EDGE. Music] SCHUMANN, Robert [RITTER, Fanny Raymond; Translator]. Music and Musicians. Essays and Criticisms. Translated, Editied, and Annotated by Fanny Raymond Ritter. London: William Reeves, 1878. [25484]
8vo. Contemporary full straight grained red morocco with gilt titles and extra gilt to spine, large gilt border to boards, marbled eps. Photograph portrait frontispiece of Robert Schumann from a Crayon by Bendemann. Small dent to upper board. A beautiful book with a nicely detailed fore-edge painting showing Beethoven at the piano. £375
[FORE-EDGE] [TAYLOR, John, and HESSEY, James] ROGERS, Samuel. Poems. London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, by T. Bensley, 1814. [26206]
8vo. Contemporary full straight grain dark blue morocco with gilt raised bands, gilt titles and delicate extra gilt tooling to spine; gilt and blank panelling to boards; inner dentelle; grey end papers. Stamped in gilt to the fore edge of each board are ‘Taylor and Hessey’, and ‘Booksellers London’. The fore-edge painting shows a castle atop in the distance, its presence heightened by lush trees and houses placed in the foreground framing it. A truly beautiful book with an original and contemporary fore-edge painting by Taylor and Hussey, a most reknown firm of bookbinders, followers of the Edwards of Halifax, in the early part of the 19th century.
“Taylor & Hessey usually bound their fine books in morocco - red, blue, brown, crimson, green - and ‘signed’ their bindings by stamping their name in gilt in the fore-edge of the binding (not of the leaves, note), whenever the boards inside the leather were thick enough to carry the name of the firm... But their water-color artist who worked on the fore-edge of the leaves did not follow the same practice, and we are therefore unable to name that artist. This is regrettable, for he was an extremely able fore-edge decorator.”
“... All the Taylor & Hessey edges are decorated with pictures of buildings or landscapes. the former predominate...”.
Carl Weber, Fore-edge Painting, p.107. £2,100
[FORE-EDGE; Sea / Ocean] MANGIN, Arthur [ADAMS, Davenport W.H., Translator] [FREEMAN; NOEL; Illustrators]. The Mysteries of the Ocean. From the French of Arthur Mangin. Translated, Edited, and Enlarged by W.H. Davenport Adams.
With 130 Illustrations by W. Freeman and J. Noel. London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1874. [27713]
Contemporary full red morocco with raised bands, gilt titles and extra gilt to spine; gilt and blind panelling to boards with an 1876 Prize medalion stamped in gilt to centre of upper. Full-page and in-text black and white illustrations. The fore-edge painting has 5 superb tableaux depicting sea related scenes: an octopus at the bottom of the sea next to an anchor; a fisherman repairing his net; a sailor helping a lady board a ship; a mermaid combing her hair; and in an oval medalion, at the centre of them all, a three-masted ship in full sail. £450
[FORE-EDGE; Benjamin Franklin] MERIVALE, Herman. Historical Studies. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, 1865. [27709]
Superb, fine contemporary binding of red diced calf, the spine showing gilt raised bands, gilt titles, chain link gilt tooling to 2 compartments, and 3 others with gilt crossed arrows centre tooling surrounded by intricate gilt floral and twirls garland; double gilt rule to boards with repeat crossed arrows corner pieces; marbled end papers. From the library of Henry Montagu Butler, Headnaster of Harrow School for 26 years, with his bookplate to paste down bearing the school’s Arms. Internally clean and mostly uncut; spines a touch dusty. The fore-edge painting depicts Benjamin Franklin at the French Court with a medalion portrait of Franklin flanked to the left of the edge. £375
[FORE-EDGE] SHELLEY, Percy Bysshe. The Poetical Works of Shelley. With Memoir, Explanatory Notes, etc. With Original Illustrations and steel Portrait. London: Frederick Warne and Co., n.d. (c.1900). [29589]
8vo. Contemporary full red morocco with gilt titles and gilt to spine, decorative gilt panelling to boards with repeat of titles to centre of upper; gilt inner dentelle. Corners bumped with some rubbing to hinges and spine. There are 2 fore edge painting to the book, one on each half. The first shows Shelley’s birthplace with his portrait in a medalion. The second is a view of Eton from across the river. £575
[FORE-EDGE] SOUTHGATE, Henry. Many Thoughts of Many Minds. Selections from the Writings of the most Celebrated Authors from the earliest to the present Time. Compiled and Analytically arranged by H. Southgate. London: Charles Griffin and Company, n.d. (c.1880). [29595]
8vo. Contemporary full red morocco with gilt titles and blind tooling to spine; black tooled decorative panelling to boards; inner dentelle with marbled end papers. A beautiful book, sound and tight, with just a few creases to spine. There are 2 paintings on the fore edge of the book, both decorative. One is the painting of three generations of mariner on the shore; the other is of a boat in full sail at sea. £575
[FORE-EDGE; Arthur and Round Table] TENNYSON, Alfred. The Works of Alfred Lord Tennyson. London: Macmillan and Co., 1895. [28227]
8vo; pp. viii, 900. Publisher’s full burgundy calf, rubbed along extremities, with gilt raised bands, green title label, and gilt decoration to spine; double gilt rule to boards; marbled end papers. There are 2 fine paintings on the fore-edge of the book, one for each half of the gatherings. One tableau shows Merlin introducing Galahad to the round table; the other shows King Arthur at Camelot. A lovely example. £475
[FORE-EDGE/REFERENCE] WEBER, Carl. Fore-edge Painting. A Historical Survey of a Curious Art in Book Decoration. New York, Harvey House Inc., 1966. [19434]
FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo., pp. xiii, 223. Presentation copy from the author, his inscription together with bookplate, author’s signature after preface. Colour frontispiece. Fully illustrated. Small mark to fore-edge else Fine in Very Good dustwrapper.
£450
Weber also wrote ‘1001 Fore-edge paintings.’ These two books remain the only major authoritative works on the subject.
If you would like any more information or images regarding any book, please send us an email quoting the stock number, which is in the square brackets after the publishing date in each description.If you would like to purchase any book directly with your credit or debit card, please enter the stock number in the field below and click "Search" to be taken to our SECURE ORDER FORM.
