Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction, and The Drama

New York: Selmar Hess, 1902. First Edition. Two Volumes [8 vols bound in 2, bound from parts]. Large Quarto. 30cm. Later institutional pebble green cloth with leather title labels. Light wear to the cloth, some chipping to title labels, bright, strong and handsome; internally clean, private library stamp to flyleaves, cosmetic cracking to innner front joint of Vol I, each plate with a captioned tissue guard, and with general contents and title pages for the respective volumes bound in at the front of each volume (thus the plate lists and explanatory matter are at the beginning of each volume and the larger bulk of the books is taken up with a wealth of plates and engravings); slight dampstaining to a couple of margins not affecting text, or the outstanding quality of the plates. A very good, clean set.

A wildly enthusiastic and imposing collection of contemporary engravings and depictions of notable characters from popular literature, executed by important artists and illustrators. Work by Landseer, Doré, Gerome, and an army of others depicting characters from Dickens, Coleridge, the Greek Myths and just about every literary fandom from the 19th century and earlier. An interesting reflection on an area of publishing and printing that was once incredibly popular, but has now been entirely replaced by Instagram, and a well curated Tumblr.