THE LIFE, LETTERS, AND JOURNALS OF GEORGE TICKNOR

1877 · Boston

by (EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED BOOKS). (BINDINGS - SETS). (TICKNOR, GEORGE). HILLIARD, GEORGE

Boston: James R. Osgood, 1877. 233 x 155 mm. (9 1/4 x 6"). Each volume with additional specially printed title page. Two volumes bound in six..
MOST ATTRACTIVE RED CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT, BY KAUFMANN (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers bordered by gilt rules and drawer-handle ornaments, central panel with gilt fillet frame and oblique fleuron cornerpieces, raised bands, spines gilt in compartments with large central fleuron in a lozenge of small tools, intricately scrolling cornerpieces, gilt lettering, turn-ins with decorative gilt rules and rolls, gilt griffin-patterned endpapers, top edges gilt. EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH 333 PLATES, composed (truncated) of 288 portraits (two in color) and 45 views, all with guards Title pages with ownership signature of Sophia Augusta Brown, dated January 1878. Spines very slightly and evenly darkened, the vaguest hint of wear to extremities, perhaps 10 percent of plates a bit foxed (half a dozen noticeably browned), otherwise a very fine and handsome set--clean and fresh internally (the text protected from offsetting or foxing by the plate guards), and in lustrous bindings with few signs of use.

This attractively bound set, lavishly illustrated with a variety of relevant portraits and landscapes, links two of America's most important bibliophilic legacies. The subject of the biography, George Ticknor (1791-1871), was an American author and academic, specializing in the subject areas of languages and literature, and is best known for his education reforms and scholarly work on the history and criticism of Spanish literature. In 1817, Ticknor was selected as Smith professor of French and Spanish languages and literatures and professor of belles-lettres at Harvard University, where he would teach for the next 16 years. In the years of his professorship, he amassed a valuable and extensive library, which became one of the largest private collections in the country and included an impressive collection of Spanish and Portuguese literature. In 1848, Ticknor helped found the Boston Public Library, to which he donated his collection. This copy of his biography was owned by Sophia Augusta Brown, the scion of another important family of bibliophiles. Brown's father was noted collector John Carter Brown, whose extensive library now resides at Brown University; her family was also instrumental in the founding of the Providence Library and the Providence Athenaeum. The binding here deserves special mention. According to Ramsden, our binder Simon Kaufmann joined the firm of Lucien Broca in London ca. 1875, and established his own premises in Soho three years later, operating a workshop there until 1889. This set, with its rich crimson leather sparkling with gilt, is particularly pleasing on the shelf—quite fitting for the sort of bibliophile's library the Browns and Ticknor cultivated.. (Inventory #: ST20198)

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THE LIFE, LETTERS, AND JOURNALS OF GEORGE TICKNOR

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1877 · Boston

Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books & Manuscripts

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