A Catalogue of an Extensive and Extraordinary Assemblage of the Production of the Aldines Press from its first establishment at Venice in 1494, together with Lynese and Venetian Countefeits, the Giunta and other works illustrative of the series

London: James Toovey, [Printed at the Chiswick Press], 1880.

8vo. 200 x 130 mm., [8 x 5 ¼ inches]. [iv], [54] pp. Beautifully printed on fine paper at the Chiswick Press and illustrated with decorative initial letters throughout. Bound in early 20th century leather backed, marbled paper boards. With the bookplates of Evelyn Philip Shirley and Anthony Robert Alwyn Hobson.

Very good copy of this special catalogue of the collection of the Aldine Press formed by the Earl of Gosford during the middle years of the 19th Century. The collection was sold to the bookseller James Toovey in 1878 and through this catalogue offered it enbloc for the price of £ 4000.00. The major portion of the collection remained unsold until Toovey's son Charles sold it to J. P. Morgan in 1899.

"In 1880 Toovey printed a special catalogue of the Aldines, probably the finest set that had come on the market since the Renouard sale of 1828." (Seymour De Ricci, English Collectors of Books & Manuscripts, pp. 157-59.)

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