Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages
London: William Pickering, 1843. First edition. Hardcover. 2 vol. Large 8vo. Page dimensions 27.5 cm x 19 cm. Both volumes unpaginated. Contemporary pebbled red morocco with the spines in six compartments, gilt lettering and decorations on the spines, boards with gilt decorations and rules, gilt rules and tooling to the turn-ins; all edges gilt. Marbled endpapers and pastedowns. Green silk bookmarks bound in. Title pages printed in red and black. Volume one illustrated with 38 color plates including an engraved chromolithograph title; volume two illustrated with 57 color plates. Both volumes contain color woodcuts and initials within the text. Kelley 1843.16. Keynes 89. McLane 66-67. Oxford DNB, Rowan Watson, "Shaw, Henry (1800–1873)". Ray 102. A handsome publication on life in the Middle Ages. Shaw's book vividly illustrates the look of the Middle Ages, depicting the costumes and customs of noblemen, women, and the clergy during the Medieval Period. He was a lifelong antiquarian and illustrator, making a living by selling hand-illustrated facsimiles of medieval illuminated manuscripts. His publications fed a Victorian fascination with early European history and archaeology. Here his color plates practically jump off the page, while educating the reader about golden chalices, royal genealogy, jousting and dueling, notable ladies of the period (including Catherine of Aragon), and the founding of the British Monarchy, beginning with King Alfred. One of the best made books of the nineteenth-century, by the inestimable press of William Pickering. Very Good. Item #00009844
A Very Good set with the crowns of the spines and the front joints neatly touched up; leaves show scattered foxing.
Price: $2,000.00