Mid 19th Century Illustrated Quarto Red Leather Volume Set, Peter Cunningham's the Story of Nell Gwyn and the Sayings of Charles the Second - 2 Books

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Title: The Story of Nell Gwynn and the Sayings of Charles the Second. With a Complete Index to the Personages … Read more Title: The Story of Nell Gwynn and the Sayings of Charles the Second. With a Complete Index to the Personages Mentioned.
Author: Peter Cunningham, F.S.A. (Related and Collected by).
Publisher: Privately Printed.
Origin: London.
Publication date: 1862.
Binder: Morell.

Description: 236 Pp. [V1; 84 p., V2*; 152 p. (*Index at rear)] 4to. 2 volume set. Large paper extra-illustrated copy with numerous engraved plates, mostly portraits and some views (many inlaid to size); extended by the insertion of 168 plates, a contemporary copy of 'The Court Burlesqu'd.' at the end of volume II - the additions include 11 mezzotint portraits, 9 colored plates, views & scenes from plays, many very rare. Stunning signed "Morell Binder London" Full dark red straight-grain morocco hardcovers in the style of Roger Payne, boards with gilt/blind-stamp-decorated border incorporating foliate tooled designs, spines in six compartments, gilt-lettered in three, a repeated gilt-decorated panel incorporating foliate tooled design in the rest, board edges and turn-ins gilt, elaborately tooled morocco doublures and green silk moire end pages. Quite a handsome edition.

Measures: 1.5 each (3 overall) L x 7.5 D x 10.75 H inches.
Approx. weight: 6 lbs., 3 oz.

About the work: Originally published in"The Gentleman's Magazine" of 1851 and in book form by Bradbury & Evans in 1852, the is the 1862 extra illustrated edition of "The Story of Nell Gwyn and the Sayings of Charles the Second, King of England” privately published. Zoe Craig in his article entitled, “London’s Own Cinderella” wrote, “Eleanor 'Nell' Gwynn (or Gwyn or Gwynne) was a London heroine with a rags-to-riches story to rival both Cinderella and Eliza Doolittle. The embodiment of the bawdy Restoration era, the orange seller-turned-actress enjoyed a position as a favourite mistress to the king for nearly 20 years and bore him two sons. King Charles's deathbed request to his younger brother and heir, James II was 'Let not poor Nelly starve' which he honored by paying off her debts and providing her with a £1,500-a-year pension (about £150,000 in today's money). Her short but significant life inspired several films, plays and novels.”

About the author: Peter Nicolas Cunningham FSA (1 April 1816 – 18 May 1869) was a British writer born in London, son of the Scottish author Allan Cunningham and his wife Jean (née Walker, 1791–1866). Cunningham published several topographical and biographical studies, of which the most important are his Handbook of London (1849) and The Life of Drummond of Hawthornden (1833). He edited Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court in the Reigns of Elizabeth and James I (1842) and Horace Walpole's Letters (1857).

In 1851 he appeared in an amateur production of a play Not So Bad As We Seem by Edward Bulwer-Lytton along with Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Mark Lemon, John Tenniel, Douglas Jerrold and others.

About the binder: The bookbinding firm Morrell was originally founded by W.T. Morrell in 1861 when he acquired the workshop of Charles Lewis at 17 Frith Street, Soho, London. Morrell’s son W.J. Morrell took over the management in 1887 after his father’s death, and subsequently brought his brother John Morrell into partnership. In 1891 an observer noted that W.J. & J. Morrell, at that time employing 50 people, preferred to bind all their work by hand and the gilding and the marbling of both paper and leathers was also done onsite. A specialty for which they were known were bindings in the Roger Payne style, although this firm was also known for their own creative designs. See less