This is a near very good copy of the second London edition of 1856, issued in the same year as the first edition and really a second impression as it is otherwise identical to the first edition and the type has not lost its sharpness.
Original brown patterned cloth-boards with decorative blind-embossed box-rules front and back and gilt-embossed depictions of a hippo and a rhino to the upper and lower boards respectively. All edges gilt. xviii + 546 pp of b/w illustrated text and indexes + 40 pp of publishers' announcements + tissue-guarded lithographed duotone frontispiece + 15 other inserted tissue-guarded duotone lithographs + 10-fold lithographed map + 40 wood engravings, mostly by Dalziel, in the text.
CONDITION NOTES. Although bumped and rubbed at the corners and lightly rubbed at the foot, the boards remain in very good condition. The binding, however, which had loosened, has been strengthened with a new matching Skivertex spine (with a new gilt-lettered spine panel) and new plain endpapers. The engravings are complete, correctly inserted and in very good condition. The map has one unclosed tear. The occasional light spotting, mainly to the versos of the plates, does not detract from a bright, unmarked and clean copy, now tightly bound.
- Binding Condition: Good+ (binding repaired)
- Overall Condition: Good+
- Size: 260 x 180 x 50
- Sold By: Fontein Books
- Contact Person: Richard Proctor-Sims
- Country: South Africa
- Email: [email protected]
- Telephone: 051 773 0050/048 079 546 4032
- Preferred Payment Methods: Eft (South Africa), SWIFT (rest of world), or $ checks for US or Australian buyers
- Trade Associations: AA Approved
