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"May blessings be upon the head of Cadmus, the Phoenicians, or whoever it was that invented books." -Thomas Carlyle

Welcome to my virtual book collection. Since collecting actual books is somewhat cost-prohibitive, I've begun to amass all of the books I would love to have if I had the means. Some are new, lots are old, all are unique or beautiful or unusual or in some other way have captured my fancy. Enjoy browsing!

Special Collections: Fine Bindings ~ Fairies and Fairy Tales ~ Terror and Madness ~ Poetry ~ Food, Drink and Apothecary ~ Science Fiction ~ Illuminations, Lettering and Hand-Coloring ~ Magic ~ Supernatural and Occult ~ Alchemy ~ Science and Technical ~ Maritime ~ Costumes ~ Humor ~ Children's books ~ Legend of King Arthur ~ Americana ~ 18th Century ~ 19th Century

Authors and illustrators: Edgar Allan Poe ~ Jules Verne ~ Edmund Dulac ~ Kay Nielsen ~ Arthur Rackham ~ Edward Gorey ~ Charles Dickens ~ H.P. Lovecraft ~ William Hope Hodgson ~ Mark Twain ~ Lewis Carroll ~ Salvador Dali ~ George Cruikshank ~ Emily Dickinson ~ Geoffrey Chaucer ~ H.G. Wells

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Miscellaneous poems
Walter Scott. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co., and Hurst, Robinson, & Co. (pr. by James Ballantyne), 1820.

Beautiful edition of gathered verses by Sir Walter Scott, containing “The Bridal of Triermain,” “Harold the Dauntless,” “William and Helen,” and what the advertisement calls “all the Smaller Pieces, collected for the first time in the recent edition of the Author’s Poems” — decorated with a fore-edge painting.

Binding: Contemporary maroon straight-grain morocco framed in wide gilt border and panelled in gilt single fillet, spine with gilt-stamped title and decorations, board edges (at corners) and turn-ins with gilt roll. All edges gilt.

B-A Note: This is one of simpler and more lovely fore-edge paintings that I’ve seen.

———————————
Or stage-struck Juliet may presume
To choose this bower for tyring-room ;
And we alike must shun regard
From painter, player, sportsman, bard.
Insects that skim in Fashion’s sky,
Wasp, blue-bottle, or butterfly,
Lucy, have all alarms for us,
For all can hum and all can buzz.
- The Bridal of Triermain