Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers
London: C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1881. First edition. Hardcover. Octavo. (vi) [1] 296pp. 32pp. (publisher's ads). Housed in a custom maroon pebbled leather pull-off case, with gilt lettering and raised band on the spine. Period orange cloth boards with decorative motifs and ruling in black running along the top and bottom of the binding. Gilt lettering on the spine. Beveled edges. illustrated publisher's device on the title page. This copy contains a lengthy 30-page publisher's catalog at the back of the book, as well as a frontispiece containing ads.
The first published collection to contain non-fiction essays by famed Scottish writer and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, written between 1874-1881. The 15 essayed included are: Virginibus Puerisque I (1876); Virginibus Puerisque II (1881); Virginibus Puerisque III: On Falling in Love (1877); Virginibus Puerisque IV: The Truth of Intercourse (1879); Crabbed Age and Youth (1878); An Apology for Idlers (1877); Ordered South (1874); Aes Triplex (1878); El Dorado (1878); The English Admirals (1878); Some Portraits by Raeburn (previously unpublished); Child's Play (1878); Walking Tours (1876); Pan's Pipes (1878); A Plea for Gas Lamps (1878).
Leather case with some rubbing to corners, and a few other small scratches and abrasions. Binding with minor bumping and/or rubbing to extremities. Light sunning to the spine. Light staining to the recto and verso of the front endpaper. Book block tight, with starting at the gutter, where the publisher's catalog is bound in. Pages throughout clean, save the most minor of damp staining to the title page. Case in very good-, binding in very good, interior in very good+ condition overall. vg- to vg+. Item #50869
This print variant contains "8.80" at the bottom of first page of the publisher's catalog, and contains "Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co." at the tail of the spine.
Price: $500.00