THE BOOK OF BEAUTY; or Regal Gallery. 1848. With Beautifully Finished Engravings, from Drawings by the First Artists.
London: D. Bogue, 1847. First Edition. Hardcover. Lovely Victorian gift book with portraits of Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Katharine Parr, Berengaria, Elizabeth Woodville, Caroline Wilhelmina of Anspach, Eleanor of Provence, Matilda of Scotland, Philippa of Hainault, Henrietta Maria of France, Eleanor of Castille, and Isabella of Valois. Octavo: [viii], 302 pp. with the frontispiece and 11 full-page plates, all steel engravings with tissue guards, by H. Austin, J. Brown, W.J. Edwards, W.H. Egleton, B. Eyles, Frederick A. Heath, and W.H. Mote, after Edward H. Corbould, Augustus Egg, H. O’Neil, J.W. Wright, as well as a decorated extra title page, title page decorations, contents page decorations and a vignette, all wood engravings by Frederick Branston after Vivant Beaucé and G. Hayes. In the publisher's blue morocco-grain cloth binding, designed by Vivant Beaucé, with gilt-stamped branch and rose vine borders with decorative corners, and elaborate floriated tabernacle centerpiece with portrait bust on the front panel; and gilt-stamped ornamental bands, decorative devices, and titling on the spine. The rear panel repeats the front in blind-stamp. All edges gilt, with pale yellow endpapers. Mild foxing to the plates, with a period previous owner's ink signature on the front flyleaf. The boards are a trifle edgeworn; otherwise very good. Provenance: from the Publishers' Bookbindings collection of Ellen K. Morris and Edward S. Levin. Very good. Item #78951
Price: $400.00