first edition Hardcover
1839 · London
by Cooper, J. Fenimore
London: Richard Bentley, 1839. First English Edition. Hardcover. Good+/No dust Jacket as issued. In two volumes. Octavo. 8.75 x 5.5 inches. Marbled paper over three-quarter, black-dyed calf. Blind tooling along borders of leather. Raised bands with faint traces of gilt remaining Marbled endpapers and text block edges. (xxxvi), xii, 456; xii, 558, (1) pp. 3 portraits and 2 maps. Engraved frontis in each volume. Tissue guards present for two of the three portraits. Volume I: two engraved portrait busts (Commodore Oliver H. Perry as frontis and Commodore Stephen Decatur); Volume II: one engraved portrait bust (Commodore Thomas MacDonough as frontis) and two full-page maps prior to text. Spine titling and decor rubbed away. Boards rubbed and edge worn. Lower tips of Volume I worn through. Material loss at head of Volume II back strip. Volume I has a two-inch split in leather at top of front hinge and earlier repair near head of back strip. Hinges cracked but holding. Bindings tight and square. Previous owner’s embossed stamp on first printer’s blank of each volume. Early owner’s name inked in upper leading corner of each title page. Else, interiors unmarked. Pages age browned with scattered foxing, primarily to outer pages and portraits. One sheet of Volume II Contents (pages v-viii) unattached to stitching, perhaps as a binding event, as it is the central sheet of its gathering. Spiller & Blackburn 29. Sabin 16442. Howes C748. BAL 3888. Please note: This is an oversized or heavy item; additional shipping charges will apply.
(Inventory #: 310)