LES BORDS DU RHIN
Paris: Furne et Cie. and Ernest Bourdin, 1847. First Edition. Hardcover. Lavishly illustrated travel book describing the scenery, cities, and castles along the Rhine. Printed by Plon frères and bound by Antoine Lenègre. Royal octavo: 288 pp. with the frontispiece, extra title page vignette, and 10 full-page plates, all steel engravings with tissue guards by T. Doherty, Nyon, J. Outhwaite, and de Villiers, after Champin, Chapuy, Jules Noël, Sandoz, et al. In the publisher's midnight blue diagonal wavy-grain cloth binding, with blind-stamped ruled borders, one blue, four bright green, four orange, and four pink coated paper onlays, gilt-stamped and over-stamped entwined vine surround with knotted corners, and floral ornamental oval surround for vignette of hikers en route to Mayence on the front panel; one pink, one dark pink, one blue, and one bright green coated paper onlays, gilt-stamped and gilt over-stamped floral ornaments, ornamental devices, and vignette of water god and fountain, and gilt-stamped titling on the spine; and repeating blind-stamped borders from the front, a blind-stamped strapwork surround with knotted corners, a pink coated paper onlay, and gilt-stamped and over-stamped floral decorations with a vignette of a house and trees on the rear panel. All edges gilt, with bright yellow coated endpapers. The contents are uncommonly fresh. So, too, is the binding, which is clean and vibrant. Provenance: Dr. Sali Guggenheim, Zurich, then the Publishers' Bookbindings collection of Ellen K. Morris and Edward S. Levin. Fine. Item #80383
Price: $1,000.00