1856 Longfellow\'s Poetical Works Signed Fine Binding J. Wright Illustrated For Sale

1854 illustrated edition of The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Bound in greenMoroccan leather with elaborate gilt designs on boards and spine. Binding signed \"J. Wright Binder\" -- see note below about the history of the bindery. J. Wright bound books are not common, with only a few sales/listing I could find. Textblock edges gilded. 100 illustrations. Includes some ephemera - mostly pressed flowers/leaves, but also a card with a handwritten poem (in French) signed Horace Maillard, a (seemingly not very successful) poet and painter. Measures very roughly 7 x 9.25 inches.\"\"John Wright was one of the leading London binders in the not very distinguished period between 1830 and 1860. He is first noted as being in business in Robson\'s directory for 1833, when his address is given as Blenheim Street, but he may well have been established for some years before that. In 1834 he succeeded J. Bickers, bookbinder, in Noel Street, and remained there, according to Kelly\'s directory, until his death in 1854 from an outbreak of cholera, which carried off also his nephew, two women and two men from his staff.... Wright\'s firm must have been of some size, for despite these losses it carried on under the Trustees of the late Jno. Wright until 1863, after which its premises were taken over by Walter S. Hammond.\" - Nixon, The Oldaker Collection, no.39. Ramsden praised him as \"a binder of thehighest order\" and John Ramage was one of his apprentices.\" [From a George Bayntun catalog].
Leather worn/scuffed along edges of spine and boards and corners. A couple scuffs and a couple small stain spots on cover. Bookplate and sticker on pastedown. Significant foxing / dye transfer on front endpaper and less so title page. Scattered, mostly light, foxing throughout. Binding is tight but fabric strip at top along spine is loose (see last photo), although it doesn\'t seem to affect the binding itself in any appreciable way. Book had been used to press and/or store flowers/leaves - some are still present, but do not seem to have affected the pages. See photos and ask any questions.