(9) Antique Small Leather Bound Volumes
Updated August 18, 2026
| Lot number | 229 |
| Estimate | 100.00 - 200.00 USD |
| Category | Antiques & Furniture |
| Auction | AUGUST AUCTION |
| Date | August 22, 2026 at 12:00 PM EDT |
| Auction house | Big Shanty Auction |
| Location | Marietta, Georgia |
Group of nine antique English leather-bound books comprising volumes from two important literary and classical works of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The earlier group is from Robert Dodsley’s A Select Collection of Old Plays, published in London for R. Dodsley in Pall Mall in 1744, the first edition of Dodsley’s influential twelve-volume anthology of early English drama; the photographed title pages retain the handsome engraved theatrical vignette and red-and-black typography characteristic of the edition. The second group comprises volumes from Plutarch’s Lives, Translated from the Original Greek; with Notes Critical and Historical, and a New Life of Plutarch, translated by John Langhorne and William Langhorne, eighth edition, London, printed for Lackington, Allen & Co. and Cuthell & Martin, 1803, originally issued in six volumes. All are attractively bound in period full or near-full brown calf with raised spine bands, gilt rules, gilt floral and urn ornaments, and contrasting red or dark green title and volume labels, giving the group strong decorative library appeal in addition to its bibliographic interest. Several volumes retain engraved frontispieces and other illustrations. Condition is consistent with books of this age and includes substantial rubbing and drying to leather, edge and corner wear, abrasions and losses at spine ends, cracking and weakness to hinges and joints, occasional looseness or separation at boards, scattered staining, foxing, toning, handling marks and previous ownership inscriptions or markings; one photographed binding shows pronounced deterioration and partial separation along the spine. The volumes are offered as a nine-book assembled group and should not be assumed to constitute complete sets of either work.
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