The Royal House of Stuart: Illustrated By A Series of Forty Plates in Colours, Drawn from Relics of the Stuarts

Macmillan and Company, 1890. Hardcover. Fair/No Jacket. Fair ; No jacket. 1890 Macmillan and Company, London & New York. First Edition. Oversize book, 12.25" x 16.75". Three-quarters leather over cream vellum-texture paper-covered boards. Five raised spine bands. Gilt lettering on spine and front cover. Gilt illustration of crown and scepter on cover. Green, white and gold marbled endpapers. All edges gilt. Hinged color plates by William Gibb. Introduction by John Skelton. Notes by W.H. St. John Hope. Front hinge broken and reattached on outside with strip of modern smooth green leather. Leather spine panel is now separated all along the front edge, but is still attached along most of the back, and is intact. Clear mending tape was once used to attempt to hold spine panel to front in six places; strips of tape and residue still remain on front leather and spine. Two pieces of tape continued to back cover; one has been pulled off, taking surface of leather with it. Some of the clear tape remains over the gilt spine lettering. Both hinges have been reinforced on the inside with wide green cloth hinge tape and are functional. Original marbled free endpapers have been attached to the next flyleaf and are now under the green repair tape at the hinge. Leather is worn and rubbed at corners, edges, and ribs. Paper field of covers is rubbed and lightly soiled. Gilt edges have some small stains. Some pages have minor foxing, mostly in margins. Pages lightly tanned at edges but generally clean and unmarked. One text page has clear (now yellowed) tape repairs to a tear and to tattering at the fore edge. 4 other pages have small tape repair at bottom edge; several others have a small tear at bottom edge near gutter. Imprinted bookplate on marbled front free endpaper. xi p., 40 p. introduction, 40 color plates, each with a page (or pages) of description, 6 p. index. Printed by R & R Clark, Edinburgh. No dust jacket. Excellent candidate for rebinding, as plates are still in very good shape. This item will be shipped with signature confirmation required.