Description
FIRST BOOKFORM EDITION, large 8vo, pp. xx, 196 + engraved frontispiece and 19 other plates all by George Cruikshank. Original red cloth, front board and spine blocked in gilt. Occasional minor foxing and soiling. Cloth somewhat darkened, splits in cloth to rear joint and slight wear to head and tail of backstrip, front hinge just cracking at head. Pencilled ownership inscription to front endpaper, a letter loosely inserted (dated 1928) from the publisher W & R Chambers, stating ‘this is one of the best copies of Falstaff that I have met with. Copies in original cloth… are now very rare, many having gone to America, never to return’.
