A handsome first edition of John Forster's biography of Oliver Goldsmith, finely bound in full polished calf by Riviere.
Very Good. Minor marks and blemishes to the calf; spine a trifle faded / sunned. Retained cloth spine also rather faded. Inner front hinge just beginning to strain, but the binding remains very sturdy. Tiny chip to corner of front blank fly leaf. Pages clean and bright.
Forster was a close friend of Charles Dickens, to whom this biography is dedicated. The later nineteenth-century Riviere binding is in full polished calf, richly gilt to the spine, with gilt board edges and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers and all edges gilt.
The original green cloth covers and spine are preserved at the rear, the covers with a gilt portrait of Goldsmith. Bookplate of Maxine and Joel Spitz to the front pastedown, with their library shelf stamp to the rear endpaper.
Author: John Forster. Title: The Life and Adventures of Oliver Goldsmith. A Biography: In Four Books. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848. First edition. xvii, [1] list of illustrations, [1] section title, 704 pp. Pictorial half-title, frontis. on p1, and scattered engraved vignette illustrations throughout (40 in total inc. half-title vignette as per 'List of Illustrations'). Later nineteenth-century full polished calf by Riviere. Original green cloth covers and spine preserved at rear. Binder's signature in miniature along bottom edge of fly leaf.
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