First Edition of The Spirit of Praise

Aquinas, Thomas, William Cowper, George Herbert, Martin Luther, Isaac Watts, et. al., and Arthur Boyd Houghton, John William North, George John Pinwell, et. al. (illus.), THE SPIRIT OF PRAISE: A COLLECTION OF HYMNS OLD AND NEW (London: F. Warne & Co., n.d. [1866]).  First edition, 24.5 x 18cm (4to), in publisher's green sand-grain cloth w/elaborate gilt decorations, title, & dogwood floral motifs to covers & spine, & sunken ivory panels to covers (all designed by Albert Warren, w/his initials to foot of spine), bevelled edges, a.e.g., cream ep.s w/binder's ticket (Bone & Son) to rear pastedown, [i-xiv], 1-251 [252] red-ruled pp. w/decorative gilt, red, blue & sepia frontis & titlepage, 8 gilt-decorated plates, numerous in-text wood engravings by the Dalziels, & red-decorated initials & ornaments by P. Hundley thru-out.  Printed at the Camden Press, London.  From the collection of Nigel Temple, w/his small decorative bookplate to fr. pastedown.  Binding Very Good (extremities moderately bumped & rubbed); contents Very Good (upper corners of 1st 16 leaves sl. creased, & occas. lt. foxing).  White 133 ("an anthology of sacred verse containing delightful drawings"), Reid passim, Ray 94 ("the most ornate of the 'Dalziel's Fine Art Books'"), de Beaumont 364, Goldman 85.  (Inv. #691)  C$500  (an equally nice copy of the 2nd edition is also available, at C$200) Home Page