Lot 894: An Antique Regency Leather-bound Collection of the Works of Shakspeare and The Beauties of History
An antique Regency leather-bound collection of books, featuring an eleven-volume set of the works of William Shakespeare and a related historical volume. The Shakespeare set is bound in full brown calf leather with raised bands and gilt-tooled titles to the spines reading SHAKSPEARE. The collection includes volumes I, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XII. The twelfth book in the lot is titled THE BEAUTIES OF HISTORY, presented in a half-leather binding with marbled boards and a red leather spine label. An internal detail of this volume shows pages 72 and 73, containing a moral essay titled ON BAD BOOKS. The typography lacks the long s (ſ), confirming an early 19th-century provenance. A small white rectangular label is visible at the base of the collection, reading HCP Auctions South West Lot 894.
Condition report:
Significant rubbing and scuffing are present on all leather surfaces, with material loss at the head and tail of most spines (photo 1). The joints of several volumes are cracked and brittle (photo 1). Internal pages are heavily age-toned with foxing present throughout (photo 2). The Shakespeare set is missing Volume II from the numerical sequence (photo 1).
Share this lot: