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Antique Young's Night Thoughts Full Leather Eton Gift 1863

Antique Young's Night Thoughts Full Leather Eton Gift 1863

Regular price $325.00 CAD
Regular price Sale price $325.00 CAD
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I picked up this copy of Young's Night Thoughts for the binding and for what someone wrote inside it. Full leather boards carry deep blind-tooled Gothic corners and a ruled border, the spine has raised bands with gilt ivy in the compartments, and the edges are stained a warm red that shows against the brilliant combed marbled endpapers. The inscription is the part I keep coming back to. It records a leaving gift from Eton, dated the 1864 Election, given to a young man named Pearson as he left the school. Edward Young's long meditation on mortality and consolation was exactly the sort of serious, improving book a Victorian gave a boy heading into the world. The leather is honestly worn, but the text block is clean and the whole thing reads as a real object with a real history.

Details
Author
Edward Young
Title
Young's Night Thoughts (The Complaint, or Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality)
Editor
Rev. George Gilfillan (Life and Critical Dissertation); text edited by Charles Cowden Clarke
Publisher
James Nichol, Edinburgh
Date
1863
Edition
Nichol's Library Edition of the British Poets
Binding
Full leather, blind-tooled boards, raised bands, gilt spine
Pages
xxviii, 311
Dimensions
9 in H x 5.75 in W x 1.25 in D
Inscription
Presentation inscription, an Eton leaving gift dated Election 1864, to Pearson; giver's name present but not fully legible
Features
Marbled endpapers, red-stained edges, red-ruled text borders
Origin
Scotland
Language
English
Condition

The full leather binding shows honest wear consistent with age. There is leather loss and chipping at the head and tail of the spine, rubbing and surface abrasion across both boards, and wear to the corners. The blind tooling remains crisp and the gilt spine lettering and ivy tooling are still bright. Internally the book is clean and sound, with scattered light foxing and toning as expected. The front free endpaper carries an ink presentation inscription and a pencil price notation from a previous seller. The marbled endpapers are vivid and intact. A worn but structurally honest copy with genuine decorative and provenance interest.

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Every antique and vintage item we carry has lived a life before arriving in your home. These are not factory-made products. They are objects with history, character, and the marks of time.

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