1869 Poets of the Nineteenth Century Full Leather Illustrated Book

A handsome 1869 Victorian poetry anthology in full green leather, decorated throughout with gilt borders and spine tooling. The Poets of the Nineteenth Century, selected and edited by Rev. Robert Aris Willmott, was issued in this “New Edition” by Frederick Warne in London with Scribner, Welford, and Co. in New York. The title page notes 130 engravings by the Brothers Dalziel, and your copy retains its portrait frontispiece along with illustrated text throughout.

This is the kind of nineteenth-century book that works on several levels at once: a substantial anthology of Victorian poetry, an illustrated literary volume, and an ornate leather binding with real shelf presence. Willmott’s anthology first appeared in 1857, and later editions like this one remained popular for their broad selection of major poets and their ambitious illustration program. Willmott himself was a well-known Victorian cleric, editor, and anthologist, and this edition was published after his death in 1863. 

[d]Editor | Rev. Robert Aris Willmott [d]Title | The Poets of the Nineteenth Century [d]Publisher | Frederick Warne and Co., London; Scribner, Welford, and Co., New York [d]Date | 1869 [d]Edition | New Edition [d]Binding | Full green leather with gilt decoration [d]Illustrator | The Brothers Dalziel (130 engravings) [d]Dimensions | 7.75 in H x 6 in W x 1.5 in D [d]Origin | England

[condition] The full leather binding shows honest age wear throughout, with rubbing along the spine, joints, edges, corners, and spine ends. The hinges are loose and worn, which is consistent with a book of this age that has been handled and read. The text block is complete with no missing pages. The interior is generally clean with scattered foxing and age spotting visible in places, as shown in the photographs. A faint pencil ownership mark appears on the front blank. This is a solid decorative copy with character, appropriate for display and collection, though not a fine binding example.