Venetian Life

Beautifully illustrated set of "VENETIAN LIFE" by William Dean Howells. 1892; Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Boston and New York. Complete set in two volumes. This edition features numerous illustrations "from original water colors" - over each illustration is a descriptive tissue guard. Decorative gilt shamrock-themed end papers. Gilt top page edges. Ribbon page markers. There are headpieces at the beginning of the chapters.

The contents are as follows: VOLUME I - Venice in Venice; Arrival and First Daye in Venice; The Winter in Venice; Comincia Far Caldo; Operas and Theatres; Venetian Dinners and Diners; Housekeeping in Venice; The Balcony on the Grand Canal; A Daybreak Ramble; The Mouse; Churches and Pictures; Some Islands of the Lagoons; The Armenians; The Ghetto and the Jews of Venice. VOLUME II - Some Memorable Places; Commerce; Venetian Holidays; Christmas Holidays; Love-Making and Marrying; Baptisms and Burials; Venetian Traits and Characters; Society; Our Last Year in Venice.

Condition:
Heavy foxing on the front and back covers, lighter foxing on the spines. Sharp cover corners. There are a couple tiny cloth tears at the bottom edge of the vol II front cover. Both volumes are tightly bound with no loose pages. Vol I has a crack at the front hinge between the frontispiece and title page; vol II has a crack at the front hinge between the contents page and 1st text page - despite the cracks, both front covers are firmly in place and are not shaky. Nice interiors - the text pages of both volumes are clean with no notable issues found. There is an old bookplate affixed to the front pastedown of vol II. The ribbon page marker in vol II is present, but has detached. Overall the set is in Good condition.