First edition: 3 volumes: I: xxv, [6], 462, lxxx, II: [2], 555; III: [2], 622, lxii, title page vignettes in all the volumes and 83 plates (1 in colour, 3 in sepia, and 5 double page), 64 half-page engravings on India paper, rebound in full leather titled gilt on the spine, foxing and offsetting on several plates, a good set.
The binder has misspelt Dibdin on the spine as Dibden.
Dedication page in volume 1 engraved with crest of the Roxburghe Club, rather than with portrait of Dibdin.
Printed for the author, by W. Bulmer and W. Nicol, Shakespeare Press
Thomas Frognall Dibdin, (born 1776, Calcutta [now Kolkata], India—died November 18, 1847, London, England), English bibliographer who helped to stimulate interest in bibliography by his own enthusiastic though often inaccurate books, by his share in founding the first English private publishing society.
Educated at St. John’s College, Oxford, Dibdin began a legal career but took holy orders in 1805. His Introduction to the knowledge of rare and valuable editions of the Greek and Latin Classics (1802) attracted the notice of Lord Spencer, through whose patronage Dibdin obtained a clerical appointment in London. His Bibliotheca Spenceriana (1814–15) became famous for the high quality of its printing. Dibdin traveled widely in search of books and manuscripts, and his Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany (1821) is typical of his work in containing much lively anecdote, many factual errors, and some excellent engravings. His Bibliomania (1809) contributed to the public’s interest in old and rare books. Among his many other works is the two-volume autobiography Reminiscences of a Literary Life (1836) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Frognall-Dibdin
- Overall Condition: Very good
- Size: 8vo (250 x170mm)
