The Poetical Works of George Meredith
- New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928. Octavo. (7 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 197 x 133 mm.). xvi, 623, [1, blank] pp. Inserted frontispiece portrait. Affixed to a front blank are two newspaper clippings dated 1929 and 1931. The verso of the portrait also has two newspaper clippings affixed and is inscribed in blue ink by the literary scholar Carl Emery Malugin (the blue ink has 'bled' through and shows on the portrait, and many leaves have his marginal notes in pencil, see p. 133 for a small marginal note in black ink). The binder has added ten blank leaves which have various relevant newspaper clippings affixed. Beautifully bound ca. 1931 by Root & Son in the Jansenist style (stamp-signed in gilt on front doublure). Full red crushed levant morocco. Covers with double gilt borders and heart-tooled corner-pieces. Each cover with six inlaid blue morocco dots surrounded by a gilt circle. Spine with five raised bands, elaborately tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments to a floral design and with five gilt circles containing inlaid light blue morocco dots. Double-ruled gilt board edges and the most wonderful, elaborate and intricate full red and inlaid dark green morocco doublures (front and back) decorated in gilt in a floral and mosaic design with a large central lozenge incredibly decorated in gilt and with sixteen inlaid red morocco dots surrounded by twelve inlaid pale blue morocco dots. Blue watered silk end-leaves, all edges gilt. Original green cloth front cover and spine bound in at end. An absolutely stunning and fine example of the art of Root & Son, housed in the original fleece-lined red cloth slipcase.
An excellent collection of poetry from the Victorian author and seven-time Nobel Prize nominee George Meredith (1828-1909). Although known more for his novels and Essay on Comedy (1887), here his colorful verses shine, while the introduction by Meredith sheds light on his writing process. The forward was written by British historian George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876-1952), who knew the author and who also published The Poetry and Philosophy of George Meredith (1906). This copy was owned and inscribed by the American scholar Carl Emery Malugin (1891-1952), who is known to have commissioned many elaborate inlaid bindings from W. Root & Son.
The London-based firm of W. Root & Son was active in from the late-19th until the 1941 Blitz destroyed their premises. The bindery was known for both fine leather bindings, trade bindings, and sets. Here, their talents are displayed with a “Jansenist Style” binding that was first popular in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, identifiable by a plain exterior and elaborately tooled doublures.
An excellent collection of poetry from the Victorian author and seven-time Nobel Prize nominee George Meredith (1828-1909). Although known more for his novels and Essay on Comedy (1887), here his colorful verses shine, while the introduction by Meredith sheds light on his writing process. The forward was written by British historian George Macaulay Trevelyan (1876-1952), who knew the author and who also published The Poetry and Philosophy of George Meredith (1906). This copy was owned and inscribed by the American scholar Carl Emery Malugin (1891-1952), who is known to have commissioned many elaborate inlaid bindings from W. Root & Son.
The London-based firm of W. Root & Son was active in from the late-19th until the 1941 Blitz destroyed their premises. The bindery was known for both fine leather bindings, trade bindings, and sets. Here, their talents are displayed with a “Jansenist Style” binding that was first popular in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, identifiable by a plain exterior and elaborately tooled doublures.