Madrid in 1835

2 volumes: xvi + 398 & vi + 410 pages.

Both volumes: Elaborate, bright and colourful aquatint frontispieces. Green leather bindings with gilt tooled frames and tooled decoration to boards. Five raised bands to spines with gilt decorations to the panels and gilt titles to second panel of both volumes on red morocco. Ornate, gilt poppy devices with borders to remaining panels. Some minor scuffing to boards, with corners lightly scuffed and bumped. Marbled edges and endpapers. Previous owner’s name inscribed in neat, blue pen to verso of both front free endpapers. Delicate blue, silk ribbons still present in both volumes.

Volume 1: Lacks half title. Both boards firmly attached, but have begun to separate from binding as leather has worn at: top corner of top board, 1cm - top corner of bottom board more significant, 4cm, but not structurally significant and still firm. Minor chips and scuffing to head of spine, scuffing to foot of spine. Damage from title page through viii in the form of 12mm x 3mm perforation to head of leaves, not encroaching into the text – indication of liquid damage as cause, however by no means extensive. Very light foxing/browning to prelims. A most attractive copy, firmly bound. The text-block is solid and contents remain crisp, bright and mostly unsullied.

Volume 2: Lacks advertisements to rear. Again, as in first volume, boards are just beginning to detach at the head (2cm top board, 4.5cm bottom board), but binding remains sound. Scattered flecks of white (paint?) sparsely dispersed over top board and spine. 3cm x 1cm scuff to top right corner of top board, otherwise very lightly scuffed as in first volume.

A handsome set of this difficult to find account of the Spanish capital in the mid-19th Century covering topics as diverse as Spanish markets, fashion, municipal services, bull-fighting, beggars, prisons, and much besides. The aquatints are most attractive and it is thought by Abbey to be the only book other than Nightingale’s "Oceanic Sketches" to contain engravings by the artist artist E Clark.

ABBEY VOL 1 (151)