History of St. Mary's Abbey, Melrose, the Monastery of Old Melrose, and the Town and Parish of Melrose
History of St. Mary's Abbey, Melrose, the Monastery of Old Melrose, and the Town and Parish of Melrose
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Title: History of St. Mary's Abbey, Melrose, the Monastery of Old Melrose, and the Town and Parish of Melrose
Author: Wade, James A.
Publication: Edinburgh: Thomas C. Jack, 1861.
Description: First edition of this history of Scotland's St. Mary's Abbey and the previous Old Melrose monastery, with discussions of medieval architecture and local lore. Plates and in-text illustrations by the author. Bound by Root & Son of London (stamp-signed on front free endpaper) in full red calfskin leather over boards, covers gilt with double fillet frame, spine with five raised bands and gilt in compartments with floral and foliate tools, board edges and turn-ins gilt with decorative rolls, marbled endpapers with red flame-like design on a blue stone marbled ground, top edge gilt, red ribbon marker. 7.5 x 5.25 inches; xix, [2], 22-400 pages, plus plates and 6 pages of publisher's advertisements. Engraved armorial bookplate of Florence Bailey Swift (of Massachusetts, 1854-1915) on the front pastedown. Later acquired by Arthur Williams Hall (1873-1952) of Massachusetts, bibliophile and manufacturer of laboratory equipment, with his pencil notes on the front free endpaper; thence by descent through three generations. Binding with light abrasions to front cover and mildly sunned spine, interior with light toning. Very Good+. The spectacular marbled endpapers are after a design by German bookbinder Paul Kersten (1865-1943) called "Jugend-Marmor." He designed it in 1899 at the Buntpapierfabrik AG in Aschaffenburg, Germany.
