Fore-edge painting of naval battle. 1854 The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell.

An exciting fore-edge painting depicting a naval battle scene hides under the gilt applied to the fore-edge of this 1854 The Poetical Works of Thomas Campbell. Campbell's poems are illustrated with 37 woodcuts from designs by Harvey within.

About the Work -

Thomas Campbell (27 July 1777 – 15 June 1844) was a Scottish poet. He was a founder and the first President of the Clarence Club and a co-founder of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland; he was also one of the initiators of a plan to found what became University College London. In 1799 he wrote "The Pleasures of Hope", a traditional 18th-century didactic poem in heroic couplets. He also produced several patriotic war songs— "Ye Mariners of England", "The Soldier's Dream", "Hohenlinden" and, in 1801, "The Battle of the Baltic", but was no less at home in delicate lyrics such as "At Love's Beginning".

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 16.5 x 10.5 x 3 cm. Leather binding. Boards with triple gilt fillet frame and corner florets, with inner roll of leaves in blind. Spine with five raised bands; five compartments with flowering vine gilt tooling, and one compartment with the title in gilt on a morocco label. Expertly respined. Marbled endpapers. Illustrated.

Pages - lxviii, 465, (1 - colophon)

Condition -

See pictures. The hinges have been repaired with one of the best repairs I've seen, even continuing the tooling around the edges! A little rubbing to edges. One chip spot out of spine that is overlain on newer leather. Booksellers notes on back of flyleaf and frontis. Some spots on frontis. Text block is remarkably clean for 19th century paper, little toning with the very occasional spot. Rear endpaper with a little foxing.