Homes of the English Poets

1890. Stab binding. Wide ribbon tie. Front and rear, as all leaves, of light card stock. Very Good. Idiosyncratic, somewhat funky, home-made book showing the homes of Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Thomas Moore, Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron and Tennyson. N.d., late 19th century. Oblong, 23 by 25.5 cm. Eight leaves of light textured card stock, with content exclusively on rectos. Bound by wide blue/aqua ribbon. With six color illustrations on silk, each framed by what looks to us like a dried foam spray that when dried takes on a hard brittleness and resembles not a little solidifed pastry icing lettering. The letters also have shallow grooves running length-wise, giving the surfaces a texture, that we find strangely appealing. When framing the pictures, the spray has a resemblance to tree twigs. The color images of the homes are printed chromolithographically onto the silk, it looks to us. Lettering is meant to be decorative, hovering between block and cursive, while not fitting precisely into any of the well-known named styles, nor is all the lettering a single style. Loose tissue guards in front of all plates. Age toning to leaves. Silk ribbon shows its age as well while still fully intact and no significant deterioration. Tissue guards, of typical light translucent tissue, are creased, stained, worn, but remarkably, present.