Decorative Bindings (all items)
First editions and rare books in fine bindings and decorative bindings and manuscripts, including first editions bound by the Chelsea Bindery, and multi-volume library sets.
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TOLSTOY, Leo.
The Complete Works. 1904
£8,500
Edition de Luxe. One of 1000 numbered copies of the most desirable set of Tolstoy's work in English.
28 volumes, octavo. Contemporary half dark blue morocco, titles and elaborate decoration to spines gilt, raised bands, blue cloth boards, marbled endpapers, top edges... Read more
HUGO, Victor.
The Works. [1892]
£8,500
Holland Paper Edition, limited to five hundred copies of which this is number 55.
30 volumes, octavo. Contemporary full dark blue morocco, titles and decoration to spines gilt, five rules to boards gilt, light blue morocco doublures with onlaid... Read more
[WILSON, Bill].
Alcoholics Anonymous. 1939
£7,500
First edition, first printing of the founding text of Alcoholics Anonymous, hugely influential through its mutation into the wider Twelve Steps movement. The first edition is a...
Octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in scarlet morocco, titles and decoration to spine gilt, raised bands, single rule to boards gilt, title block to front... Read more
[DODGSON, Charles Lutwidge] CARROLL, Lewis.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 1866
£7,500
First edition, second issue. This is the first obtainable issue with the Appleton cancel title page. Macmillan printed around 2,000 copies of the book in 1865, but both artist and...
Octavo, pp. [x] + 192. Bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe / Zaehnsdorf in recent burgundy full morocco, title and decorations to spine gilt, triple line rule and centre... Read more
ROWLING, J. K.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. 1997
£7,500
True first edition, first printing, with all the requisite points: Bloomsbury imprint, 10-down-to-1 number line, copyright Joanne Rowling, and (a lesser known but crucial point to...
Octavo (193 × 123 mm). Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery, the spine and front cover in orange-red morocco, the back cover in purple morocco; spine with five... Read more
WILDE, Oscar.
Intentions. 1891
£7,500
First edition. Of 1,500 copies printed, this copy one of 900 for UK (600 printed for US). Inscribed by Wilde on the copyright page "Roy, from his friend the author. June 91."
Octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in full green morocco, gilt titles and box design to spine, raised bands, gilt rules to boards, gilt inner dentelles, white... Read more
STOWE, Harriet Beecher.
Mrs. Stowe's Writings. 1896
£7,500
Signed limited edition, one of 250 sets signed by Harriet Beecher Stowe and dated in her hand January 5th 1896, just a few months before her death. A very attractively bound set...
17 volumes, octavo. Green half crushed morocco, titles and decoration to spines gilt, raised bands, marbled sides and endpapers, top edges gilt, others untrimmed.... Read more
VOLTAIRE.
Oeuvres Completes. 1785
£7,500
Complete set of the best edition.
92 volumes, octavo. Early 19th-century full mottled calf, with gilt titles and decoration to spines, gilt decoration to boards, gilt lower edges, gilt inner dentelles,... Read more
(COSWAY-STYLE BINDING) BURNS, Robert.
Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. 1787
£7,500
First Edinburgh edition, mixed sheets (with the first state of the subscribers list containing the misprint "Duke of Boxburgh" for "Roxburgh" on page xxxvii, but the later misprint...
Octavo (210 × 125 mm). Lavishly bound in purple crushed morocco for Chas. J. Sawyer of London, spine richly gilt with massed leaf sprays between raised bands,... Read more
AUSTEN, Jane.
Sense And Sensibility; Pride and Prejudice; Emma; Mansfield Park; Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. 1833
£7,500
First collected edition. Published by Bentley in his Standard Novels series. Each of these is the first one-volume edition and the group as a whole constitutes the first collected...
5 volumes, octavo. Recent blue half calf, tan morocco labels, centre tool to spines in blind and gilt roll to bands, marbled boards, brown plain coated endpapers,... Read more
DICKENS, Charles.
The Complete Works. [c.1910]
£7,500
The Gadshill Edition, printed from the edition that was corrected by the author in 1867 and 1868 and with an introduction by Andrew Lang; considered one of the best editions of the...
36 volumes, octavo (197 × 138 mm). Finely bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe in dark brown half morocco, titles and decoration to spines, raised bands, brown cloth... Read more
[CLEMENS, Samuel Langhorne] TWAIN, Mark.
The Complete Writings. 1929
£7,500
The Stormfield edition. Limited to1024 numbered sets with a card signed by Twain tipped onto the limitation page. "It was Mark Twain's most cherished desire that a definitive and...
37 volumes, octavo. Recent full green morocco, spines gilt in compartments, burgundy morocco labels, marbled endpapers, decorative roll to boards and top edges gilt,... Read more
SHAKESPEARE, William.
The Dramatic Works of Shakspeare. 1802
£7,500
First Boydell edition. This lavish edition was the brainchild of John Boydell (1720–1804), who had been responsible for the publication in mezzotint of some of the most...
9 volumes, folio. Contemporary calf, spines gilt in compartments, turn-ins and roll to boards gilt, turquoise endpapers, all edges gilt. 2 engraved portraits and 94... Read more
CHURCHILL, Winston S.
The First Collected Works of Sir Winston Churchill. Centenary Limited Edition. 1973–76
£7,500
The Centenary Edition is the only collected works of Winston Churchill. Although the stated limitation is 3000 sets worldwide, only some 1700 sets were issued. This set comes with...
39 volumes, octavo. Original full vellum, armorial device to upper board gilt, titles to spine gilt. With the slipcases. Slight discolouration to a couple of... Read more
TOLKIEN, J. R. R.
The Hobbit. 1937
£7,500
First edition, first impression.
Octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in dark green morocco, titles and decoration to spine, single rule to boards, twin rule to turn-ins, burgundy endpapers,... Read more
(COSWAY STYLE BINDING) FORSTER, John.
The Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith. A biography: in four books. 1848
£7,500
First edition, a handsome three-decker set in lavish Cosway-style bindings, housed in their original leather-entry slipcase, with portraits of Goldsmith, Johnson and Garrick. After...
3 volumes, octavo (203 × 129 mm). Full blue-green crushed morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe for Brentano's of New York, spines gilt in compartments between five... Read more
JAMES, Henry.
The Novels and Tales. 1922
£7,500
Second New York Edition, the first and best collected edition of Henry James' works.
26 volumes, octavo. Recent full burgundy morocco, titles and decoration to spines gilt, rule to boards gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Frontispiece portrait... Read more
BRONTË, Charlotte, Emily & Anne.
The Novels. 1857-60
£7,500
First collected edition ("A New Edition", later referred to as the Uniform Edition). The binding is particularly attractive and sympathetic, approximating well to contemporary style...
7 volumes, small octavo. Finely bound to style in modern half calf, spines richly gilt in compartments between raised bands, red title labels, black author labels,... Read more
BRONTË, Charlotte, Emily & Anne.
The Shakespeare Head Brontë. 1931–38
£7,500
Limited to 1000 copies, this set is complete with the novels, biographies, correspondence, unpublished writings, poems and juvenilia.
20 volumes, octavo. Recent dark green morocco, titles and decoration to spines, contrasting brown morocco labels, single gilt rule to boards, marbled endpapers, top... Read more
STEVENSON, Robert Louis.
The Works, Vailima Edition. 1921-3
£7,500
Vailima edition, one of 1,030 numbered sets for the United States (this no. 714), out of a total edition of 2,090 sets.
26 volumes, octavo (228 × 146 mm). Finely bound c. 1960 in red half levant, spine gilt in compartments between raised bands, gilt lettered in two compartments,... Read more
SHAKESPEARE, William.
The Works. 1893-5
£7,500
One of 500 copies on handmade paper, the second edition of the Cambridge Shakespeare, first published in 1863–6, the principal and most enduring work of the editor William...
40 volumes bound in 20, large octavo (252 × 170 mm). Finely bound by Birdsall and Son in brown half morocco, titles and decoration to spines, raised bands, brown... Read more
BANCROFT, Hubert Howe.
The Works. 1886
£7,500
First edition, the complete set of what is still considered by historians to be the most important single source of early Western American history. "Colossal co-operative...
39 vols., octavo. Recent tan morocco, spines gilt in compartments, light and dark brown morocco labels, marbled endpapers, floral roll to boards and all edges gilt.... Read more
SHAKESPEARE, William.
The Works. [c.1900.]
£7,500
Edinburgh edition, extra illustrated. Limited to 26 lettered copies. A luxurious deluxe binding of Shakespeare's works.
20 volumes, tall quarto (320 × 207 mm). Contemporary dark blue crushed morocco, titles to spine gilt with centre tools in compartments separated by raised bands,... Read more
JOYCE, James.
Ulysses. 1934
£7,500
First American edition, sixth printing. Signed and dated by the author, "James Joyce / Paris / le 14 Juin, 1934". Copies of any American edition of Joyce's books are rare in signed...
Octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in full blue morocco, titles and box design to spine gilt, raised bands, rule to boards gilt, inner dentelles gilt, marbled... Read more
![[The Pooh books:]](/content/store/products/1831/2/3056.jpg)
MILNE, A. A.
[The Pooh books:] 1924–8
£7,500
First editions, first impressions. The little bear described by Christopher Milne in his autobiography as his "inseparable companion" has also become the inseparable companion of...
4 volumes, octavo. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in full morocco, in their respective published colours, spines gilt, raised bands, rule to boards gilt, multiple... Read more
