Description: COL. HENRY YULE: THE BOOK OF SER MARCO POLO, THE VENETIAN, CONCERNING KINGDOMS AND MARVELS OF THE EAST 2 VOLS (COMPLETE); by COL. HENRY; pub by JOHN MURRAY; 1875; LONDON; ZAEHNSDORF DECORATED VELLUM BINDING; 2ND EDITION; FINE "Newly translated and edited, with notes, maps and other illustrations" This is a spectacular Zaehnsdorf binding, one of the great binders of the Victorian Era. This second edition has a lithographic title page, printed title and numerous maps and plates, some of them folding. The pages are extremely clean with no foxing except occasionally at the prelims, and there are occasional full colour pages as called for. The engravings include scenes of Chinese and eastern life, with pictures of the countryside, people, Chinese writing, layouts of cities and portraits. In these pages, Marco Polo relates an extraordinary set of travels. This copy has been bound in gilt-decorated vellum by Zaehnsdorf. All edges are lustrous gilt. The attention to detail on the bindings is excellent, with each volume having an ornate frame to the boards, and intricate ornate gilt decoration to the spines, along with two labels per volume, one in giltstamped in red, the other giltstamped olive. The board edges and inner edges are gilt stamped, with the Zaehnsdorf name to the base of the inner board. The book has burnished marbled endpapers with a previous owner's bookplate - that of J M Trotter of Colinton, now a suburb of Edinburgh. Trotter inherited Colinton House from his father-in-law James Abercromby, erstwhile Speaker of the House of Commons, later styled Lord Dunfermline. The book is very lightly rubbed with some slight marks to the white vellum boards and slight bowing of the boards where the vellum has shrunk over time - a common occurrence with vellum-bound books. Overall this is a spectacular copy, and highly sought-after by collectors who appreciate the fineries of Zaehnsdorf's work. A NOTE ON THE BINDER: Joseph Zaehnsdorf (27 February 1816 – 7 November 1886), was was the son of Gottlieb Zaehnsdorf, of Pesth in Austria-Hungary, where he was born and educated. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to Herr Knipe, a bookbinder of Stuttgart, working successively in Vienna, Freiburg, Baden-Baden, and Paris. In 1837 he came to London. His reputation grew and he received honourable mention at the London International Exhibition of 1862, and he obtained medals for his work at the Anglo-French Working Class Exhibition, held at the Crystal Palace in 1865, at the Dublin International Exhibition of 1865, at the Exposition Universelle (1867), at Vienna in 1873, and at Victoria and Albert Museum in 1874. "Zaehnsdorf bindings" are now sought for and highly prized find bindings. Zaehnsdorf was acquainted with the German, French, and Italian languages, and also with several of the Slavonic tongues. In July 1849 he married Ann, daughter of John Mahoney, by whom he had an only child, Joseph William Zaehnsdorf, his successor in business and author of The Art of Bookbinding: a practical treatise (2nd ed. 1890). ID 008355
Price: 1500 GBP
Location: Havant
End Time: 2025-02-09T11:31:27.000Z
Shipping Cost: 36.6 GBP
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Item Specifics
Return postage will be paid by: Buyer
Returns Accepted: Returns Accepted
After receiving the item, your buyer should cancel the purchase within: 14 days
Special Attributes: Illustrated, Luxury Edition
Year Printed: 1875
Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
Binding: Fine Binding
Original/Facsimile: Original
Place of Publication: London
Language: English
Non-Fiction Subject: Biographies & True Stories
Author: COLONEL HENRY YULE
Publisher: John Murray
Original/Reproduction: Original
