Item #119097 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis CARROLL.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

London, Macmillan and Co., 1868 (twelfth thousand)/ 1866.

Octavo, [xii], 192 pages 'with forty-two illustrations by John Tenniel'.

A double Cosway binding of burgundy levant morocco by Rivière and Son, all edges gilt; each side with a central inset miniature on ivory under glass (visible image size of each one 70 mm), with gilt fillets radiating from them to ornate hand-tooled foliate frames, with gilt-decorated green morocco onlays in the corners and centres; recently (and exquisitely) rebacked to match by Bayntun (who acquired the Rivière stock of binding tools in 1939), with the spine gilt in compartments with five raised bands and four green morocco onlays; dark green watered silk doublures within only slightly less-ornate frames on the pastedowns; cloth from the original binding mounted on three sheets bound in at the rear; trifling signs of use and age; essentially a superb example in superb condition.

A lavish Cosway binding (possibly circa 1910-1913), with miniatures by Miss C.B. Currie after Tenniel's illustrations; the front doublure is stamped in gilt 'Miniatures by C.B. Currie'. The scenes depicted are Alice (with flamingo / croquet mallet) and the Duchess on the front cover, and Alice and the Dodo on the rear.

At the beginning of the twentieth century John Harrison Stonehouse, managing director of Henry Sotheran Booksellers, began to commission these distinctive fine bindings by Rivière and Son, featuring inset miniatures on ivory by his in-house miniaturist, Miss Currie. Many of her excellent miniatures imitated the style of the earlier painter Richard Cosway, hence the term Cosway binding. Over nearly 40 years she produced miniatures for over 900 bindings. Examples from other binderies, featuring miniatures by other artists, are referred to as Cosway-style bindings; they are far more common, and generally far less desirable. This copy has 'Bound by Rivière & Son' stamped in gilt near the bottom edge of the inside front cover; the rear doublure is stamped in gilt within a small decorative frame 'Bound by Rivière & Son, from designs by J.H. Stonehouse'; and 'H. Sotheran & Co., 45 Piccadilly, London' is stamped in gilt near the bottom edge of the inside rear cover.

Item #119097

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