1788 BRITISH MERLIN, IN MAGNIFICENT COTTAGE-ROOF STICK PIN BINDING

(BINDING) (ALMANAC) RIDERS, Cardanus. Rider's British Merlin: for the Year of Our Lord God 1788. BOUND WITH: The Court and City Register; or, Gentleman's Complete Annual Calendar, for the Year 1788. London: Printed for the Company of Stationers, and sold by R. Horsfield; J. Jolliffe et al., 1787. 12mo (3-1/4 by 5-1/2 inches), contemporary full red morocco, ornately gilt-tooled spine, covers lavishly gilt-decorated in a cottage-roof design with large and elegant lozenge of massed floral and foliate tools at center, large medallion catch plates and staggered looped metal clasps, held closed by a five-inch inserted metal pin, raised bands, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. $3200.

1788 British Almanac, beautifully bound in elaborately gilt-decorated morocco in the cottage-roof style typical of fine bindings at the time, held closed in a highly unusual manner with clasps and a metal stick pin.

Riders' British Merlin contains geographical descriptions, weights and measures, an historical timetable and list of kings, a chart of human anatomy, a monthly almanac, and an extensive "description of the High-Ways in England and Wales." The Court and City Register bound with the almanac includes long lists of worthies at court and in the houses of Parliament, in the army and navy, at universities, in public offices, at hospitals, and so on. While it was customary to bind such annual publications in decorative morocco, the type of closure seen here, where a long pin is inserted through the loops of four metal clasps, is extremely rare. Library ink stamp on title page, dated 1788.

Some portions trimmed a little close, just touching text on eight leaves. A beautiful, distinctive binding in very nearly fine condition.