first edition
1855 · New York
by Knickerbocker Magazine
New York: Samuel Hueston , 1855. First Edition. Near fine in full, dark brown leather covered boards with five raised bands on the spine with gilt text on black leather in one of the compartments and blind embossed binder's devices in the other compartment. The boards are fully embossed in blind. The end sheets are marbled and the edges of the text block are gilt with a placement ribbon sewn in at the head of the spine. An octavo of 9 by 6 inches with foxing to the verso of the marbled end sheets. There is an early prior owner's book plate (Emily P. Robeson) on the front paste down and the signature in ink of a second prior owner (Mr. W. Avery) at the top of the second free end page. The frontispiece, engraved title page and printed title page all have mild foxing as do the majority of the plates. Overall, a very handsome and clean copy with the binding tight, the joints and hinges very sound and strong. 505 pages of text. Illustrated "with forty-eight portraits on steel, from original pictures engraved expressly for this work". The portraits of authors and poets separate the 55 contributions of letters, essays, poems and short stories.
(Inventory #: TB33113)