Manual of Wood Carving

J.H.Parker & Sons, Whittaker & Co., Bemrose & Sons, Derby. Book Hardcover. Very Good/No Jacket. A show-piece copy of a classic title from Bemrose, distinguished (and now, of course, extinguished) publishers, printers and binders of Derby, made for The International Exhibition of 1862 (a forgotten "repeat" of The Great Exhibition) which took place in a monumental edifice on the site of the still more monumental Natural History Museum. This copy is a prodigy. bevelled boards edged in dark green brass-studded suede, dark green cloth spine. The back board covered in bass-relief carved wooden panel, including the date 1862 and with the Bemrose company monogram more deeply carved. The front board bearing an assertive more deeply-carved wooden panel showing vine leaves, coiled tendrils and bunches of fruit centred on a wavy ribbon on which is painted "Wood Carving". The effect is reminiscent of and perhaps inspired by the celebrated carvings of nearby Southwell Minster's Chapter House, but the spirit of the whole deeply "Victorian" though "Pre-Raphaelite" (The Studs!) might redeem it to Pevsner. Inside marbled endpapers, greens and gilt, and 40 card leaves printed with text in black and illustrations in nut-brown, each within a red panel. All page edges red with goffered design deeply embossed. Almost invisibly restored by Sycamore Bookbinders of Eastwood. This volume is a magnum opus encompassing days of highly-skilled hand-craftsmanship and artistry. The only items with wooden bindings faintly approaching this in ambition that we have seen are souvenirs of the Holy Land. How much to ask for it - far less, surely, as with nearly all hand-bookbinding, than its intrinsic replacement value. Feel free to make a persuasive offer, mentioning why this is meant for you, which we will probably refuse for a while.