Item #05222 Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The. James BOSWELL.
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The
Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The

Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. The

London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1901. Item #05222

Boswells' Life of Johnson Illustrated by Herbert Railton
Extra-Illustrated by the Insertion of over Six Hundred Portraits and Scenes etc.
Extended from Three to Seven Volumes Handsomely Bound by F.J.Pfister of New York

BOSWELL, James. The Life of Samuel Johnson LL.D. Edited by Arnold Glover of the Inner Temple with an introduction by Austin Dobson. With one hundred illustrations by Herbert Railton and many portraits. London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1901.

Three octavo volumes extended to seven (8 7/8 x 6 inches; 222 x 152 mm.).

Extra-illustrated by the insertion of over six hundred plates including many portraits and scenes by various artists, at least one original letter (complete with envelope), pages from books and periodicals contemporary to the events being related by Boswell (including The Gentleman's Magazine), notices of marriages and deaths, bookseller catalogues, auction catalogues, etc., some items with hand-written captions, many mounted onto stiff paper with decorative borders.

Bound by Pfister of New York ca. 1901. Full red morocco, covers elaborately stamped in gilt, spines with five raised bands, decorative gilt inside borders, mottled pink endleaves. With the bookplate of Robert Freeman Pick.

"At the January dinner of the League, held at the rooms of the Aldine Association, on the evening of January 17, 1900, F.J. Pfister, a well-known New York bookbinder, delivered an interesting address on the art of decorating the covers of books by means of pyrography, or of "burning in" with a heated tool the design with which the cover of a book is to be decorated, instead of impressing it, either blind or gilded, with dies or the ordinary binders' tools… Mr. Pfister pointed out that pyrography is not a recent art, but an ancient process revived." (The Booksellers' League. A History of its formation and ten years of its work. New York, 1905. page 96).

With the Ex-Libris in each volume of one "R.F. Pick", his name across an open book laying on two laurel branches and with a small beetle busily eating his way through the pages. Based on the name, the New York bindery, and the design of the Ex-Libris it seems highly likely that our Mr. Pick was the bookseller of that name who had an establishment at 136 E. 34th Street, New York City, and advertised his firm as "Bookseller and Importer" of "Rare and Choice Books". Interestingly, on the same page of the Literary Collector (dated October 1901 to March 1902) on which we find Mr. Pick's advertisement is one for the bindery, F.J. Pfister, directly beneath.

Price: $7,500.00

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