Description

Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women of Europe and America: Embracing History, Statesmanship, Naval and Military Life, Philosophy, The Drama, Science, Literature and Art with Biographies by Evert A. Duyckinck. Published in 1873 by Johnson, Wilson and Company in New York City. Complete in two volumes. Illustrated with hundreds of highly finished, beautiful full-page steel engravings from the original portraits by the most celebrated artists. Each engraving is tissue-guarded. Large, heavy quartos. Each volume is 11.25” x 8.5” x2.5” thick. Fine leather binding: 1/2 dark brown Moroccan leather over what appears to be 1/2 brown pebble leather. Gilt lettering and design work. 5 raised spine bands. Full gilt page edges. This would have been an exceptionally expensive book set during its time. Condition: OVERALL GOOD Exterior: FAIR and could do with a rebind or professional repair. Front board is detached on Volume I. Hinges and joints are weak and/or splitting in both volumes. Heavily rubbed boards, spine and corners. Cracks in spine leather. Interior: VERY GOOD - Volume I front pastedown has ex-libris bookplate. One of the blank front free endpapers appears to have been cut down to 1/2 size and reattached. There are occasional areas of smudges or stains or spots of water dampening or a small tear along the margin but mostly quite clean and fresh looking with minimal toning and no writing. Mostly foxing free except for the rare spot or two, mostly on the endpapers. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Evert Augustus Duyckinck (pronounced DIE-KINK) (November 23, 1816 – August 13, 1878) was an American publisher and biographer. He was associated with the literary side of the Young America movement in New York. In 1845, he assisted Edgar Allan Poe in printing his Tales collection and selected which stories to include. The collection was a critical success, though Poe was somewhat disappointed by Duyckinck's choices. In 1847 he became the editor of The Literary World, a weekly review of books written with his brother George Long Duyckinck until 1853. The two brothers became the unofficial leaders of the New York literary scene in the 1840s into the 1850s. Herman Melville, a close friend of Duyckinck's with whom he corresponded often, refers in his novel Mardi (1849) to Duyckinck's highbrow magazine Arcturus by naming a ship in the book Arcturion. Please see pictures as they are an important part of the condition description. As a fellow book collector, I know how frustrating it can be when items aren’t accurately described or poorly packaged for shipping. That is why I (1) take a lot of pictures and try to describe condition issues as accurately as possible and (2) pack your book purchases with the utmost care before shipping. I have been selling and buying on eBay for over 10 years and have a 100% satisfaction rating, and offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee 30-day return policy. Please follow me as I have thousands of highly collectible books to list in the coming weeks and months!