– 60 – N e w A c q u i s i t i o n s One Of Only Seven Sets With The 250 Illustrations In Quadruple Suite, One Suite Hand-Colored: 16-Volume Set Of Strickland’s Lives Of The Queens Of England, With Hand-Painted Portraits Inset Into The Front Cover Of Each Volume 70. STRICKLAND, Agnes. Lives of the Queens of England, From the Norman Conquest. Philadelphia, 1902-03. Sixteen volumes. Octavo, publisher’s deluxe full navy morocco gilt, morocco doublures with inset hand-painted portraits and inlays, custom slipcases. $22,000. Beautifully bound and richly illustrated “Alexandra Edition” of Strickland’s detailed history, one of only 7 sets copies printed on Japan vellum, with each of the approximately 250 illustrations printed in quadruple suite: one on Holland handmade paper and handcolored, on on India paper, one on papier de Chine, and one on Japanese vellum, including portraits, scenes and views. Each volume bound in full morocco, with a hand-painted portrait of one of the queens set into the full morocco doublure inside the front cover. “Miss Strickland’s fame as an author and historian rests on the Lives of the Queens of England, which was the joint work of herself and her sister Elizabeth… In her extracts from contemporary authorities she amassed much valuable material, and her works contain pictures of the court, of society and of domestic life not to be found elsewhere” (DNB). The illustrations in each volume are presented in four suites: one on Holland handmade paper and finely finished by hand in watercolors, one on India proof paper and tipped in, one on papier de Chine, and one on Japanese vellum. First published 1840-48. A duplicate set of the plates printed on satin (presumably in a separate case) is mentioned on the limitation page, but not present. This set was printed for subscriber Agnes Carey, as stated on the limitation page. Interiors clean and fine, a few volumes with minor color restoration, spines without redmorocco floral onlays, expert reinforcement to some joints and to two text blocks, as well as to some slipcases. An exceptionally good example of this splendidly illustrated and bound set. Quite scarce.
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