Description

A collectible antique set of Longfellow's writings published by as a set by Houghton and the Riverside Press circa 1878-1886, including many beautiful illustrations done by a variety of artists and engravers. There are 6 Books in total, which are bound with soft leather covers, hard leather spines, and gilted text block edges.The books are divided into 3 Volumes, each of which has 2 Books. Volume I (Books 1 and 2): The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Illustrated (Copyright 1879). Volume 2 (Books 3 and 4): The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Illustrated (Copyright 1880, 1886). Volume III (Books 5 and 6): The Complete Prose Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, with His Later Poems, Illustrated, with a Biographical Sketch by Octavius B. Frothingham (Copyright 1882 and 1883). Overall, books are in Good condition. Books have some minor scratching and blemishing along text block edges. Overall, text and illustrations are wonderfully handsome and in excellent condition for their age. They are bright and clean, clear of writing, markings, highlighting, etc. Pages near edges of textblock tend to be toned, have sparse foxing spots or minor blemishing. There are stray foxing spots or blemishes on some deeper in the textblock, but rare. Some pages adjacent to tissue guards are lightly foxed and/or toned (again, tends to be the ones closer to edges of textblock). Some tissue guards are have a loose edge or are coming loose. Pages are lightly tanned around edges. Most of the Books have some ripping in the gutter paper at front and back hinges, but on all Books, hinges remain tight, firm and robust, with no feeling of looseness or impending separation. On all Books, soft covers are notably rubbed along edges, corners, and top/bottom of spine, lightening leather in these spots. Most of the Books have the leather at the very top and very bottom of spine rubbed off to the base of the text block. Books are rubbed along the spines with patches of discoloration. Most Books' corners are curled in, with some Books corners exposed. Books have notable shelfwear along edges, with some spots exposed, and some minor dings in spots. Some of the books are bumped at the corners of the text block, causing some minor warping to these page edges. Book I has notable surface scraping and scratching on cover, causing strips of the surface of the leather to be peeled off in spots. The tissue paper on the title page is heavily toned and 75% separated along the bottom edge. Book 6 has some foxing in the bottom of the gutters of a few pages.