A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla. Illustrated by Richard Doyle.
1848. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1848.
8vo, original glazed cream boards pictorially decorated and lettered in gilt, green, & blue, a.e.g., after a design by Owen Jones; binder's label of Westley's & Clark, London. [vi], viii, xxiii, 200, 16(publisher's catalogue) pp. Many wood-engraved plates and text illustrations after Richard Doyle. Rubbed along edges, joints tattered as usual; but bright and clean and a far better copy of this famous, fragile binding than is usually encountered.
§ First edition. On the first page of the terminal catalogue the publisher cites the "novel and elegant binding" on this work, which is termed "Mr. Leigh Hunt's Christmas Book, " thus explaining the motivation behind the celebrated festive and colorful design. It is often stated that the publisher quickly abandoned these sadly perishable boards in favor of more substantial cloth; but John Carter makes clear that that change was part of a general cost-cutting effort in 1852. In any case, this work is very frequently found rebound. Apart from the binding, it should be noted that Hunt's sparkling text is one of the few extended accounts -- with ample digressions -- of Sicilian culture and history in English. The catalogue advertisement adds a subtitle that does not appear in the published book: A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla; or, Sweets from Sicily in Particular, and Pastoral Poetry in General. Carter, Binding Variants , p. 121; More Binding Variants, pp. 11-12. Colbeck, I, p. 409: 46. McLean, Victorian Book Design & Colour Printing, p. 132 & Color Plate XV. NCBEL, III, col. 1218. Item #125147
Price: $450.00