Exquisite & Rare

Dimension: 20.4 cm.

Provenance: None noted.

Binding: Green morocco decorated by Edward Sullivan with onlays and gold tooling. Border of repeated gouges, floral and bird tools. Circular gold-tooled brown floral onlays in each corner. Nested central lozenge formed by gouges, the space between the border and the outer lozenge filled with gold dots, leafy sprays and brownish-red gold-tooled chrysanthemum onlays, the intermediate space with ten red onlays, gold-tooled to a rose pattern, and four brown onlays. The inner lozenge filled with gilt dots and a central red onlay. Gold-tooled doublures.

Dimension: 20 cm.

Provenance: Earl of Belvedere, one of the original subscribers. J.R. Abbey bookplate.

Binding: Dublin gold-tooled dark green morocco. Across the middle of the upper cover: ‘Rt. Honble. Earl of Belvedere’; across the lower: ‘1773’. A similar all-over design within each half cover; birds, rosettes, flowers and leaf branches flow from pointillé curved lines which radiate from a vase at the top (and bottom); also used are the symmetrical flourish and flame plant illustrated by Maurice Craig. The flame-plant is also tooled on two fawn onlaid leather vesicæ. Thistle border roll. Flat spine tooled to six compartments, with red lettering-piece in the second; paper ticket attached to the first. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges.

Dimension: 20 cm.

Provenance: ‘The Right Honourable the Earl of Ely’ in gold on a tan onlay in the third compartment on the spine. Bookplates of J.R. Abbey and Captain Tottenham of Woodstock.

Binding: Dublin gold-tooled red morocco, possibly by the Parliamentary Binder. Border roll within fillets, elongated lozenge inlaid with blue morocco, with Maurice Craig’s ‘trophy tool’ at the points; this tool is also used on the open interior lozenge. The general all-over design is composed of leaf-branches, stars, circles and two different birds. The spine has five bands and six gold-tooled compartments, with a blue lettering onlay in the second. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges.

Dimension: 20 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate of William B. Bede, with the motto ‘Incorrupta fides nudaque veritas’; and signature of Mathew Forde, M.P., one of the original subscribers.

Binding: Dublin gold-tooled dark green morocco. Across the middle of the upper cover ‘Mathew Forde Esqr., M.P.’; across the lower ‘1773’. Similar all-over design within each half cover; birds, leaves, flowers and other small tools from pointillé curved lines which radiate from a vase at the top (and bottom) border roll. Spine tooled to six compartments, with a red lettering-piece in the second. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges, upper joint cracked, slight damage to both covers.

Dimension: 20 cm.

Provenance: Earl of Moira. From the Marquis of Hastings’ sale, with J.R. Abbey leather bookplate, and a ticket with the letters ‘Ed’.

Binding: Dublin gold-tooled green vellum. Border floral roll within fillets. Four white vesicæ laid point-to-point forming an oval, with a concave lozenge left open; all-over design built around wavy pointillé lines, using three different birds, leaves, flowers and tiny circles. The spine has five bands and six gold-tooled compartments; title on red lettering-piece in the second; ‘Right Honourable the Earl of Moira’ on a cream lettering piece in the third. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges.

Dimension: 20 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate of the Honourable Hugh Howard.

Binding: Dublin red morocco with broad gold-tooled border within treble fillet. The spine has five bands and six gold-tooled compartments with olive lettering-piece in the second; ‘Hill Willson Esqr.’ on blue lettering-piece in the third. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges.

Dimension: 16 cm.

Provenance: None noted.

Binding: Dublin binding of faded red morocco. Covers framed with a thistle roll and a central lozenge formed by the imaginative use of a pair of drawer handle tools, stars and radiating stylised tools, with the same tool projecting from the corners. Flat spine divided into five compartments by a triple line pallet, the date ‘1773’ in the second, and the other four with a central pomegranate tool and radiating smaller versions of the stylised tools.

Dimension: 16 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate of Henry Alexander Forkhill. Presentation inscription for G.J. Cooke, 1843.

Binding: Dublin red morocco gold-tooled to an all-over design. Broad border of floral, leaf and vase tools. Royal arms in centre, symmetrical flourishes, stylised and naturalistic branches. The spine has five bands and six gold-tooled compartments, quartered diagonally; date on blue lettering-piece in second. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges.

Dimension: 21 cm.

Provenance: Presentation copy with inscription from the author at Castle Caldwell to William Eden. Bookplate of Charles Benjamin Caldwell.

Binding: Irish red morocco with broad gold-tooled border, using repeated individual vase, floral, star, dot and arc tools. Flat spine, gold- tooled; one of the flower tools is similar to William Hallhead’s tool no.2 listed in McDonnell and Healy; title and volume number on tan onlays, marbled endleaves and gilt board edges.

Dimension: 27 cm.

Provenance: Richard Monckton Milnes, a famous book collector, and then, by descent, to Lady Milnes-Coates.

Binding: Dublin gold-tooled red morocco by Parliamentary Binder B, identified by McDonnell as probably Edward Beatty. A rich all- over confection of acanthus leaves, flame tools, narwhal tusks, floral sprays, cornucopias, leafy sprays and featherwork tooling using pointillé gouges. The spine with five bands and six compartments, the second with a black lettering piece, the remainder with Maurice Craig’s cross- over shield and shuttlecock-like floral tools. This is one of the most important extant Dublin bindings of the eighteenth century and comes closest to letting us visualise what the great Irish Parliamentary Bindings actually looked like.

Dimension: 18 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate, leather gilt, for C. Parker; leather bookplate of J.R. Abbey. Presentation inscription of members of the Vigors family, 1810–1896, on the flyleaves.

Binding: Contemporary London gold-tooled red morocco, with large lozenge and narrow borders inlaid in pale citron leather. Three of the spine’s six compartments are similarly inlaid, five gold-tooled bands. Similar in design to contemporary Dublin bindings; the tools, however, are not Irish.

Dimension: 18 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate of Henry Ormsby.

Binding: Contemporary Irish olive-green morocco, inlaid in cream and gold-tooled all over. The spine has five bands and six gold-tooled compartments, with a red lettering-piece in the second and a citron onlay in the fifth. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges. Compare Craig, plate 54, for some identical tools: the crown, drawer handle and flowers.

Dimension: 24 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate of J.R. Abbey. Inscribed ‘M. Maxwell, 23:d Dec:r 1762’ on title page.

Binding: Richly gold-tooled red morocco by the Trinity College Binder. Inlaid scalloped paper lozenge extending the length of the cover, opened to show a series of small red vesicæ and a blue morocco inner lozenge. Tools of the all-over design include cornucopias, vases, floral and leaf sprays, crescents, stars and circles. Border roll within four fillets. The spine has five bands and six gold-tooled compartments. Comb- marbled endleaves and gilt edges. Joints repaired, but a split down the centre of the spine. Preserved in a red cloth box.

Dimension: 24 cm.

Provenance: Signature of Viscount Doneraile on title page.

Binding: Dublin red morocco, gold-tooled to an elaborate design, re-backed. A lozenge design, outlined by concave gouges, extends the length of the cover. The tools include branches, leaves flowers, circles and vases. The large rose spray and cornucopias are identified by Maurice Craig as tools used initially by Parliamentary Binder B, and by others later. An adaptation of the design fills the corners. The spine has five bands and six compartments with identical tooling. Gilt edges and marbled endleaves. Preserved in a red cloth box.

Dimension: 17 cm.

Provenance: None noted.

Binding: Contemporary Irish gold-tooled red morocco, with inlaid paper rose outlined by overlapping double gouges, unusual small centre with a face and emanating rays. Scalloped border, also onlaid in paper and outlined by gouges. Flat spine tooled to six compartments, with green lettering-piece in the second. Comb-marbled endleaves. The companion 1772 Baskerville Terence in an identical binding is at the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.*

* With thanks to Jan Storm van Leeuwen for bringing this to my attention.

Dimension: 16 cm.

Provenance: None noted.

Binding: Dublin red morocco c. 1760, gold-tooled all over, using a variety of small tools within a border roll. Scalloped paper inlay, with the outline formed by double gouges; curved branches formed by reversed gouges. The spine has five gold-tooled bands and six gold-tooled compartments. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges. A pristine copy of a classical pattern of Dublin eighteenth-century bookbinding. Compare with Craig, plate 12.

Dimension: 17 cm.

Provenance: Bookplates of Nun-Appleton in Yorkshire and Henry B. Wheatley.

Binding: Gold-tooled red morocco by Parliamentary Binder A, with concave lozenge inlaid in white leather, having an inner lozenge of olive- brown; framed by large diamond tooled all over. Border wave-roll with alternating leaf and flower motifs. The spine has five gold-tooled bands and six gold-tooled compartments, with olive-brown lettering-piece in the second. Roll-on edges and turn-ins, comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges. Rebacked with original spine laid down. Preserved in a brown morocco box.

Dimension: 23 cm.

Provenance: Presentation inscription from John Ussher to William Tighe, 1779. Bookplate of William Tighe.

Binding: Late-eighteenth-century Irish gold-tooled crimson morocco. Leaf and floral border, concave lozenge inlaid in maroon with diamond surround of marbled paper within an outer diamond border of cream vellum which has a double greek-key roll. Foliate roll border. Flat spine gold-tooled to six compartments separated by five green onlaid strips.

Dimension: 20 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate and shelf marks for the library of Ragley Hall, Warwickshire.

Binding: Richly gold-tooled Dublin red morocco. Inlaid paper lozenge with a geometrical pattern formed by overlapping pointillé gouges and interspersed tools. Large star-shaped corner motifs composed of a repeated tool. A border of overlapping small pointillé gouges within fillets. The spine has five bands and six gold-tooled compartments, with a green lettering-piece in the second. Comb-marbled endleaves and gilt edges. Joints restored. Preserved in a green morocco box.

Dimension: 25 cm.

Provenance: Manuscript letters from Henry Hyde (1710–53), created Baron Hyde of Hinton in 1752. Signatures of Maria E. Forbes and Lucy Fitzroy Somerset. Hyde was closely associated with Bolingbroke, Pope, Swift and Horace Walpole. His account of the South of France is contained in sixteen letters addressed alternately to Lady Charlotte and Lady Mary Capell. These letters are followed by one to Mrs. Duncomb, on the death of his sister, Lady Charlotte Hyde, dated London, 29 April 1710.

Binding: Contemporary, probably Irish, gold-tooled red morocco, onlaid outer frame and central lozenge in cream leather and tooled all-over. Floral roll on the cream leather border. Central lozenge gold-tooled with repeated use of a scalloped gouge. The flat spine is tooled to six compartments, with a green lettering-piece in the second. Marbled endleaves and board edges gilt.

Dimension: 16 cm.

Provenance: Pasted inside the front cover is a printed receipt with the handwritten words ‘Countess Bective’; bound in towards the end of the book is an engraved and embossed ticket with a handwritten entry for ‘Countess Bective’. Her name is also in the printed list of subscribers for the Rotunda Hospital on page 15.

Binding: Contemporary gold-tooled tree-calf, framed by a single fillet and a simple intertwined botanical roll. A central onlay of red leather on the upper cover framed by a double gold fillet; tooled on the red lettering- piece: ‘Countess of Bective, Public Assembly Subscription Book for MDCCL.XXX.IX. [1789]’. Flat spine tooled overall with repeated small tools. Spine and lower cover have extensive damage, probably due to silverfish.

Dimension: 17 cm.

Provenance: None noted.

Binding: Contemporary Irish red morocco gold-tooled to a panel design. The spine has five bands and six compartments: title on tan onlay in the second; date onlaid at the foot; the five remaining compartments gold- tooled; marbled endleaves and board edges gilt.

Dimension: 26 cm.

Provenance: Bookplates of Sir John and Shane Leslie, Glaslough House, Co. Monaghan. Signature of Charles Powell Leslie.

Binding: Contemporary Irish gold-tooled green morocco, with border roll and botanical corner tool. The spine has five bands and six gold- tooled compartments, with red-lettering piece in the second, repeated closely spaced rolls cover the remaining compartments, the first, fourth and sixth using the same square dotted tool, and the third and fifth using a pointillé wave pallet. The latter is very pleasing and reminiscent of what Maurice Craig dubbed ‘featherwork ’. Marbled edges.

Dimension: 37 cm.

Provenance: From the library of the Duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey. Also has Althorp shelf ticket, and bookplate of Lewis Montolieu.

Binding: A magnificent set in a very handsome contemporary Irish red morocco binding (c.1782), broad gold-tooled borders, royal arms in the centre of each cover, royal cypher in corners of the centre panel enclosed by fan design using a flame tool. Spine with six gold-tooled bands and seven compartments, title on green label in the second, and dates on tan label in the fourth, the other five are gold-tooled, with repeated use of different rolls. Marbled endleaves and gilt edges. Bound in the Dublin workshop of Boulter Grierson. This is one of a small number of sets surviving intact. One set is in the British Library, and a set from the Royal Library Windsor was presented by King George v to the Irish Free State in 1927.

Dimension: 19 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate and shelf ticket of Thomas Conolly, MP (1738– 1803).

Binding: Bound in green morocco for Thomas Conolly, with his cypher and crest gold-tooled on all covers, crest repeated on spines. Gold-tooled borders, flat spines, gold-tooled and onlaid in red, title lettered on red labels, splash marbled endleaves.

Dimension: 30 cm.

Provenance: Bookplate of John La Touche, and ticket and stamps of Clonliffe College. Gilt supralibros of the Coote family.

Binding: Contemporary Irish armorial binding in green morocco, gold- tooled borders. The spine has five gold-tooled bands and six compart- ments, four of them gold-tooled, the title on red leather in the second, and the volume number in green in the third. Marbled endleaves, gilt marbled edges.

Dimension: 20 cm.

Provenance: A presentation copy. Across the centre of the upper cover: ‘To Sir Patrick Bellew’; across the centre of the lower: ‘From the Author’.

Binding: Gold-tooled tan morocco. Thistle border roll with ‘cross-over on shield’ tool in corners. Tooled lozenge which includes a symmetrical flourish, trophy tool and a bird. The spine has five bands and six gold- tooled compartments, with a defective brown lettering piece in the second. Comb-marbled endleaves.

Dimension: 13 cm.

Provenance: Gilt supralibros of ‘Mrs. Dove’.

Binding: Contemporary Irish calf, gilt double line fillet on outer border, and a central panel formed by a gilt rococo roll border. The central panel of unstained tan calf contains the supralibros on the upper cover and remains empty on the lower cover. The space between the two borders is stained a dark tan. The leather has been damaged by the staining solution. An acorn tool issuing from the outer corners of the central panel. The spine has four bands and five compartments bordered with double gold fillets.