*RESERVED* The King's Story Book Gomme Christ's Hospital Prize Binding 1897
*RESERVED* The King's Story Book Gomme Christ's Hospital Prize Binding 1897
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The Christ's Hospital coat of arms gilt-stamped on the front board tells you immediately that this is not an ordinary copy. The Governors of Christ's Hospital, one of England's oldest and most distinguished schools, presented this copy to William Robert Mansfield at Christmas 1900 for general progress and diligence, and the copperplate inscription on the tipped-in presentation label is as formal and beautiful as the binding itself. Full red leather with a deeply gilt-tooled spine, marbled endpapers in crimson and black, marbled page edges, gold fillet borders on the boards: this is a prize binding produced specifically for the school's award copies, and it is in fine shape for its age.
The text inside is equally good company. The King's Story Book is an anthology of historical stories drawn from English Romantic literature, organised by monarch from the Conquest through William IV, edited by George Laurence Gomme, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and later Sir George. The contributor list reads like a Victorian literary census: Sir Walter Scott on Richard I and Henry II, William Shakespeare on Henry V and Henry VI, Lord Lytton on Edward IV, Mary W. Shelley on Richard III, Charles Dickens on the Regency, Charlotte Brontë and W.M. Thackeray on the Georges. Harrison Miller's 22 full-page illustrations include a striking photographic reproduction of the lost Armada tapestry that once hung in the House of Lords, destroyed by fire in 1834, which gives the book an unexpected documentary dimension alongside its literary pleasures.
The full red leather binding is sound and holding well, with rubbing to the spine extremities and corners consistent with 125 years of handling. The gilt spine tooling shows wear, with some decoration softened, but the title remains legible. The gilt Christ's Hospital armorial on the front board is clear and intact. The marbled endpapers are bright and undamaged. The copperplate presentation label is tipped in cleanly and lies flat. The text block is tight with no loose pages; the paper has toned to a warm cream with light age-browning at the page edges, as expected. The 22 illustration plates are all present and clean. No tears, no significant soiling, no missing elements. A very good copy in its original prize binding.
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