The Englishman’s Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia By Rev. A. R. Fausset
 
c.1878–1892 • Illustrated Antiquarian Half-Leather Edition • With All Plates and Maps Present
 
Bibliographic Details
Author: Rev. Andrew Robert Fausset
Title: The Englishman’s Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia
Publisher: James Sangster and Company, Paternoster Row, London
Printer: Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Press
Publication Date: Undated, but likely between 1878 and 1892
Format: Large 4to (approx. 26.6 × 21 × 6 cm)
Pagination: viii + 753pp.
Illustrations: Profusely illustrated with steel-engraved plates and maps (including frontispiece and illustrated title page) facing pp. 16, 41, 81, 121, 161, 201, 241, 280, 320, 361, 401, 441, 481, 521, 561, 601, 641, and 681 and numerous woodcut illustrations throughout the text
Weight: Approx. 2,244 grams
 
Historical Context & Dating
This edition is undated, as was common for many Victorian religious reference works, but internal and bibliographic evidence supports a publication range between 1878 and 1892. The work was first published in volume form in 1878, and publisher James Sangster & Co. were based at Paternoster Row until approximately 1892. While the exact issue date is unprinted, a pen inscription on the front endpaper dated “January 11th, 1896” indicates the book was in circulation by that time, confirming the latest possible dating.
Rev. Andrew Robert Fausset (1821–1910) was an Irish theologian, best known for his role in the influential Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary.
 
Binding & Exterior
Bound in contemporary half leather over pebbled boards, with gilt lettering and ornate blind- and gilt-tooling to the spine, raised bands, and reinforced corners.
The binding remains intact and robust, but shows age-related wear, including:
 – Patches of fading and rubbing, particularly to the edges
 – Small tears at the head and tail of the spine
 – A partial split at the rear hinge
 – A mild lean to the spine
Please refer to the photographs for visual confirmation.
 
Interior Condition
Internally clean and complete, with all plates accounted for:
• All the above mentioned full-page plates and maps are present, as well as an illustrated title page and numerous in-text wood engravings.
• Pages are lightly tanned, with a handful of pages with darker tanning or light foxing, most visible on a handful of pages and near edges. The endpapers and pastedowns have foxing present.
• Overall clean and unmarked, with no writing beyond the dated pen inscription on the front endpaper and a pasted-in plate titled “Personal Description of Christ” on the front pastedown.
• No missing pages; all 753 pages are present and secure.
• Page block edges are marbled, now faded.
• Scattered minor flaws include:
 – A small rip across page 267 and its verso (crosses text but doesn’t obscure it)
 – Small holes near the gutter of page 273 and its verso
 – Light cracks at the inner hinges (front/rear endpapers and between pp. 2–3)
 – A handful of small edge tears and very occasional light creases or marks
 
Summary
A substantial and beautifully illustrated Victorian theological reference work, complete with its original suite of plates and richly bound in half leather. The internal condition is unusually clean for its age, and its dating, supported by publisher history and an 1896 inscription, places it within the prime years of late 19th-century religious scholarship. An impressive and highly decorative piece for collectors of antique Bibles, theological cyclopædias, or Victorian publishing.