Fine Bindings & Sets Lots 110-122
*110 [ART NOUVEAU BINDING]. Blank railroad ledger, “Compagnie des Chemins de fer de l’Ouest” (spine title). N.p.: n.p., 1909. Oversize folio (770 x 530 mm). Blank ledger. Contemporary brown crushed levant, upper cover gilt-lettered “Grand Livre 1909” with tan, green, brown, yellow and red morocco onlays decorated in gilt and blind depicting a steam locomotive, copper fittings along top and bottom depicting train wheels and train tracks attached to bronze edge frame, lower cover with 5 bronze bosses (one detached), spine in 5 compartments with 6 raised bands, gilt-decorated in 3, 2 with decorative copper fittings, marbled edges. A MONUMENTAL 20th-CENTURY ART NOUVEAU BINDING Presumably created to commemorate the takeover of Compagnie des Chemins de fer de l’Ouest by Chemin de Fer de l’Etat, which was made official on January 1, 1909. Bronze medals commemorating the takeover are known in several examples. Compagnie des Chemis de fer de l’Ouest was formed in 1855 by the merger of several railway companies serving Normandy and Brittany. A FINE OVERSIZE ART NOUVEAU BINDING, weight in excess of 120 pounds. [Note: Bidders are encouraged to contact the department directly to request shipping information prior to bidding.] Property from the Collection of Nicole Herweck, La Grange, Illinois $1,000.00 - $1,500.00 111 [BINDINGS]. BROWNING, Robert (1812-1889). Works. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1912. 10 volumes, 8vo. Frontispieces. Contemporary half red morocco gilt, top edge gilt (wear to extremities, several boards detached). LIMITED EDITION, number 492 of 526 copies of the “Centenary Edition.” [Bound in:] Autograph letter signed (“Robert Browning”) to Lady James. 19 Warwick Crescent, 16 July 1896. 1 p., 8vo, window mounted and bound in volume one. Browning writes to accept a dinner invitation from Lady James: “I shall be delighted to dine with you to-morrow as you so kindly devise. Yours very truly, Robert Browning.” $300-400 V I E W T H E C O M P L E T E C ATA L O G U E AT H I N D M A N A U C T I O N S . C O M
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