[Binding, Fine- Gladstone, Captain] La Famille Cardinal

Paris: Librairie de L'Edition Nationale, Emile Testard, 1893. Quarto. 10 x 6 1/2 inches. Beautifully bound by Captain Gladstone in full green crushed morocco with elaborate and exquisitely executed gilt vine and blossom work covering most of both covers and spine, with both front and back covers adorned each with 10 onlays of tudor rose blossoms in red, impressed in 10 small pieces (for each blossom) into a gilt background. Truly impressive. Wide gilt decorated inner dentelles, typically found in Gladstone bindings, with 20 Tudor rose onlays matching those on the covers, gilt tooled strapwork. Gorgeous light salmon colored silk moire doublures and matching free flies in paper. Top edges gilt, others untrimmed. Single fillet gilt ruling to side edges of boards, and gilt cross-hatches to top and bottom of spine. with similar red and gilt designs, superb pink silk doublures. Signed "CEG" inner dentelle. Original wrappers bound-in. Spine faded as often seen with this color morocco (i.e. bright green), foxing internally. Internally, foxing is present due to acidic nature of paper. A gorgeous binding by Captain Gladstone, whose bindings are now legendary, and in high demand, though little is known about the individual. Some have conjectured that he commissioned one of the top binders at Riviere, and this may well be true; certainly the individuals we have spoken to have likened his work to the wonderful finishers at Riviere, such as Alfred de Sauty or Charles McLeish.