Lot 245
Bindings
Collection of fine bindings, mainly English, 19th century
Auction: From the Library of Professor Roland Paxton | 01 October 2026 from 10am | Lots 221 to 252
Description
Fuller, Margaret. London: H G. Clarke and Co., 1845. First UK edition, 8vo (16.8 x 11cm), contemporary tan half calf, marbled sides, 212 pp., bound without the half-title and the chromolithographic additional title-page, bookplates of Baron Melchett and Melchet Court, Romsey;
Sallust. Opera quae supersunt omnia. Cura Joannis Hunter. Andreapoli [St Andrews:], in aedibus academicis excudebat Jacobus Morison, 1796. 12mo, contemporary straight-grain blue morocco gilt, all edges gilt, near-contemporary gift and ownership inscriptions, library plate (ink-stamped withdrawn) to front pastedown [ESTC T187725];
Bible; English; Authorised Version. The New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1803. 8vo, contemporary straight-grain red morocco gilt, collates A-2D8, contemporary ownership inscription to title-page;
Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Romsey: William Sharp, 1816. 8vo, contemporary tree calf (possibly Swedish, ‘This Book was originally the property of Mr James Stephen in Sweeden [sic] […]', contemporary inscription to initial blank), smooth spine richly gilt with repeating arabesque device, engraved frontispiece (with ownership inscription to foot);
Byron, George Gordon, Lord. Werner, a Tragedy. [Bound with:] Mazeppa, a Poem. London: John Murray, 1823. First edition, first issue, 8vo, contemporary half calf, half-title, contents marked, bound with a copy of Mazeppa, 1819, first edition, issue not established, damp-stained;
Cruikshank, George. Clement Lorimer; or, the Book with the Iron Clasps. A Romance by Angus B. Reach London: John Lofts, c.1850. 8vo, contemporary tree calf, 12 etched plates, front joint slightly cracked, final plate damp-stained;
and 25 others, including: Bible, Authorised Version, Edinburgh, 1772 (8vo, contemporary red morocco elaborately gilt, rebacked with original spine laid down, inscription ‘Given by the Lord Provost of Edinbrugh to Ann Cardonnel 1780’ to front free endpaper, bookplate of Mansfeldt de Cardonnel Lawson (1746/7-1820), Scottish antiquary; Queen Victoria, Leaves from the Journal of our Life in the Highlands, 1868, first edition, near-contemporary blue half calf, marbled sides, endpapers and edges; William Edmonstoune Aytoune, Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers, 1868, contemporary red morocco gilt by Ramage; Matthew Holbeche Bloxam, The Principles of Gothic Ecclesiastical Architecture, 1838, third edition, 12mo, contemporary purple morocco gilt, bookplates of Letitia Le Poer French and J. A. Birkbeck; H. H. Milman, Belshazzar [and:] The Fall of Jerusalem, 1822, 2 works, 8vo, uniform contemporary purple calf elaborately decorated in gilt and blind; Samuel Smiles, Industrial Biography, 1882, new contemporary later half pigskin; and similar, all leather-bound (31)
Provenance
From the collection of the late Professor Roland Paxton MBE FICE FRSE (1932-2025), 'Britain's foremost historian of civil engineering' (Telegraph, obituary, 12th November 2025); Professor Paxton was also a leading conservationist of Britain's engineering heritage, and led successful campaigns to restore two of the world's most important railway structures, the Laigh Milton Viaduct in Ayrshire, the world's oldest surviving railway bridge, and the Union Chain Bridge, the world's oldest suspension bridge still carrying road traffic.
Footnote
This London edition of Margaret Fuller's pioneering feminist treatise appeared in the same year as the New York edition, apparently without Fuller's permission. Both editions are very rare in commerce.