Gleanings from the English Poets, Chaucer to Tennyson, with Notes by Robert Inglis
 
c1861 to 1864 • Gall & Inglis (Edinburgh) and Houlston & Wright (London) • Illustrated • All Edges Gilt • Antiquarian Poetry
 
Book Overview
 
Attractive mid-Victorian antiquarian poetry anthology compiling selections from Chaucer to Tennyson with brief biographical notes by Robert Inglis. Includes 8 steel-engraved plates: a frontispiece, an engraved title-page, and plates facing pp. 264, 352, 382, 390, 446, and 500, after engravers including H. Adlard and S. Allen. Original decorative cloth with all edges gilt and yellow endpapers. A substantial, giftable volume with wide appeal to collectors of Victorian bindings and illustrated poetry.
 
Publishing & Dating Notes
 
Imprint: Gall & Inglis, 6 George Street, Edinburgh, with Houlston & Wright, London.
Dating evidence: Gall & Inglis operated from 6 George Street from 1857 to 1878. Contents list notes Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1809–1861 (implying post-1861), while A. A. Watts and Adelaide A. Procter show birth years only; both died 1864.
Estimated date: c1861 to 1864, undated as issued.
 
Contents & Illustrations
 
Scope: English poets from Chaucer to Tennyson, with additional selections including Poe, Longfellow, Mrs. Browning, Scott, Lamb, Byron, and others.
Plates: 8 steel engravings present and accounted for (see positions above).
 
Exterior Condition
 
Publisher’s red cloth richly blocked in gilt and blind to boards and spine, all page edges gilt. The binding is intact and robust for its age. Expected period wear includes small marks, toning to the cloth (more on the spine), soft corner bumping with small splits at tips, and short cloth splits to the spine ends. Please see photos.
 
Interior Condition
 
Light, even tanning consistent with age. Foxing and handling marks to endpapers, prelims, and a few final leaves. Text pages generally neat and clean, largely uncreased, with only very occasional small folds or small marks. There are no rips to the pages. Front flyleaf bears brief pen and pencil inscriptions, but no further writing. A few gatherings show light or partial gutter cracks, with a slightly larger crack beside the frontispiece (see photo). A few pages are partially loose at one side of the inner margin but secure overall and no pages are detached.
 
Pages Present
 
544 pages, complete. All engravings and the engraved title-page are present.
 
Measurements & Weight
 
Approx. 17.4 × 11.5 × 4 cm. Approx. 510 g.