Alexander The British 11 Volume Partial Set
Updated August 18, 2026
| Lot number | 246 |
| Estimate | 100.00 - 200.00 USD |
| Auction | AUGUST AUCTION |
| Date | August 22, 2026 at 12:00 PM EDT |
| Auction house | Big Shanty Auction |
| Location | Marietta, Georgia |
An attractive eleven-volume partial set from Alexander Chalmers’ The British Essayists: With Prefaces, Historical and Biographical, published in Boston by Little, Brown and Company, 1865-1866, from a larger thirty-eight-volume edition of this extensive anthology of celebrated British periodical literature and essays. (Wikimedia Commons? ) The present group includes volumes devoted to selections from such influential eighteenth-century publications as The Rambler, The Adventurer, The World, The Idler, The Observer, and related essay series, with photographed volumes including XVII, XVIII, XX, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXV, and XXXVIII, among the eleven volumes present. Each is handsomely bound in mottled brown leather with elaborate gilt-decorated spines arranged in compartments, repeating floral and foliate devices, multiple gilt rules, and contrasting dark green-black leather title and volume labels lettered in gilt, creating a particularly appealing and cohesive shelf appearance. The collection embodies the Victorian-era taste for finely bound literary library sets and preserves the work of Chalmers’ influential compilation of British essay literature. Condition is generally good for age with expected rubbing, scuffing, abrasions and edge wear to the leather bindings, scattered wear and small losses along joints and spine extremities, age-toning and occasional foxing or spotting to the interiors, and some volumes exhibiting more pronounced staining or discoloration, including visible pale blue-green moisture staining to portions of Volume XXIII; bindings nevertheless retain substantial gilt decoration and present impressively as a decorative antiquarian library group. Eleven volumes only from the larger series; not individually collated for completeness.
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