Three deep blue-green volumes with some of the prettiest Victorian spines you'll find. Each one is stamped in gold with a daisy at the top, the title in tall, quirky lettering, and a big gilt butterfly near the base. The front covers carry a small gilt winged emblem and the title in black with a gold daisy winding through the letters.
Inside is James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., often called the greatest biography in the English language, here with his Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides included. This is the illustrated edition, with engravings throughout. The endpapers are a rich dark blue.
The cloth is frayed at the spine ends and rubbed at the corners, the honest wear of books that were read and kept. Lovely as a trio on a shelf, a desk, or a mantel, and a good gift for a reader or writer.
Dimensions: 8" H x 5 1/2" W (per volume)
Medium: Dark blue-green cloth over boards, stamped in gilt and black
Age: Circa 1880 (undated)
Origin: George Routledge and Sons, Limited — New York (9 Lafayette Place), London, Glasgow and Manchester
Signature/mark: Spines stamped in gilt "BOSWELL'S LIFE OF JOHNSON," volume numbers I, II, III, and "ROUTLEDGE" at the foot; a prior owner's name card reading "William B. Jensen, Ph.D." is pasted inside the front cover of all three volumes.
Disclosures: Sold as-is in antique condition; complete set of 3 volumes; the front board is loose on one or more volumes, and the front inner hinge is cracked, so please handle and open with care; cloth is frayed with small losses at the spine heads and tails, corners are rubbed and bumped, and the covers show light scuffs and spotting; pages are toned with age and readable
