The Lady's Realm: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine, November 1901 to April 1902
 
A captivating and substantial volume, this edition of The Ladies' Realm provides a vivid window into British society at the turn of the 20th century. Published by the esteemed Hutchinson & Co. and printed by Hazell, Watson, And Viney, this half-bound volume (November 1901 to April 1902) is a remarkable artifact of the Edwardian era. It features hundreds of illustrations and high-quality colour plates with tissue guards, offering rich detail on the social life, fashion trends, and literary tastes of the period.
 
This volume is also notable for the start of the serialied novel No Other Way by Sir Walter Besant, which was published monthly from November 1901 to October 1902.
 
Key features and specifications
 
Publisher: Hutchinson & Co., 34 Paternoster Row, London
Printer: Hazell, Watson, And Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury
Pages: All 776 pages plus iv. are present and tightly bound.
Illustrations and plates: Includes numerous illustrations and colour plates with original protective tissue guards. The plates are present facing pages 120, 123, 297, 417, 537, and 657.
Dimensions: Approximately 24.7 x 18 x 4.8 cm
Weight: Approximately 1,960 grams, a substantial volume.
 
Condition and binding
 
Exterior condition:
 
Half-bound in brown leather on the spine and corners, with marbled paper on the boards.
The spine is panelled with five raised bands and gilt tooling, title, and date.
The cover is robust and in good condition for a volume over 120 years old, with some patches of rubbing, mostly at the edges, corners, and along the long edges of the spine.
The marbled paper on the boards is intact but shows some light scratches and rips at the bottom edges.
 
Interior condition:
 
All page edges are "sprinkled" (sprayed with a colour), and the pastedowns and endpapers are a complementing orange colour.
There are remnants of paper on the back pastedown.
Pages are lightly and evenly tanned, with the occasional light or small marks that do not obscure the text or pictures.
Only the very occasional light crease is present.
There are small rips at the edges of several pages (not affecting text), and larger rips through page 735 and overleaf (see photo of page 735).
There is a little pencil marking on page 421, but no further pen or pencil markings.
The volume includes the plates facing pages 297, 417, 537, and 657, as well as the plates on pages 120 and 123.
 
Collector's appeal
 
This volume is an attractive piece for collectors of Edwardian periodicals and books on social and literary history. The inclusion of the serialised novel by Sir Walter Besant and the high-quality illustrations, protected by their original tissue guards, makes it a valuable and historically interesting item. Its robust half-leather binding, while showing wear, is a testament to its quality and age.