EVANGELINE. by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth - 1905

Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1905. 132 pp, 9 3/4" H. Red cloth with gilt lettering & white decorations on spine and front board. Beautifully decorated/illustrated throughout with pictorial endpapers, decorated title page, 22 plates, including frontispiece (mainly in tones of black/white/red, some full colour), additional small drawings, pale red decorative background to all text pages, incorporating images of hourglasses, bibles, spider webs, rosaries, cornucopia, bees, sailing ships, bells, etc. Longfellow's epic poem recounting the story of Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse, two young lovers, separated on their wedding day during the Expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia in the 18th century. Frontispiece lacks tissue guard. Two bumps to the top of the text block affecting approx. 60% of the pages to varying degrees including a tiny tear on some pages, some very light soiling marks on the free front endpaper, very slight separation between some page gatherings but holding very firmly in the binding, light edge wear to boards, light wrinkling at the top/bottom of the spine, some dust soiling to top of text block, light soiling on boards.. Hard Cover. Good+/No Jacket. Illus. by Howard Chandler Christy..