A Century on Anecdote John Timbs c1868 Chandos Classics
 
Discover A Century on Anecdote John Timbs c1868 Chandos Classics. An elegant Victorian antiquarian volume in decorative cloth, complete and carefully described with photos.
 
Title & Bibliographic Header
 
A Century on Anecdote: From 1760 to 1860
By John Timbs
Undated, but circa 1868–1916
Part of The Chandos Classics series
Published by Frederick Warne & Co., Bedford Street, Strand, London
 
Historical & Bibliographic Context
 
The Chandos Classics series was launched in 1868 to present important historical and literary works in attractively bound, affordable editions for the educated Victorian reader. A Century on Anecdote gathers together the wit, curiosities, and social colour of a hundred years of British life, spanning the reigns of George III through to Queen Victoria.
 
John Timbs was a master compiler of literary and historical miscellany, and this volume reflects the Victorian fascination with anecdote as both entertainment and informal history. It preserves political, cultural, and social vignettes that would otherwise have been lost, offering readers a richly textured portrait of British life from 1760 to 1860.
 
About the Author
 
John Timbs (1801–1875) was an English journalist, editor, and antiquarian best known for his popular compilations of historical curiosities and literary anecdotes, which made scholarship accessible to a broad Victorian readership.
 
About the Illustrations
 
Not illustrated with plates but decorated throughout with ornamental chapter headpieces typical of Victorian gift and reference books.
 
Binding & Exterior Description
 
Bound in brown blind-stamped cloth over boards and spine, with green and black floral decorations and black borders to the front board and spine. Both front board and spine feature gilt-lettered title panels, adding strong shelf appeal. The rear board carries blind-stamped floral decoration, borders, and lettering.
 
The binding remains intact and robust, showing honest antiquarian wear: soft bumping and small rips to corners, light rubbing, small rips at the head and tail of the spine, and a few light marks and patches of surface wear.
 
Interior Condition
 
Green printed publisher’s catalogue endpapers and pastedowns. Decorative chapter openings throughout. A pen inscription appears on the front pastedown, with an ex-libris bookplate for D. K. Sealey on the front free endpaper.
 
There is foxing to the pastedowns, endpapers, prelims, and rear publisher’s catalogue. The main text pages are overall neat, clean, and predominantly uncreased for their age, with only very occasional small marks and minor creases. A couple of pages are roughly cut at the edges.
 
Small edge rips appear on the front pastedown, front free endpaper, and a handful of other pages, none affecting the text. Pages are secure, though there is a very light partial gutter crack between pages 256–257, and pages 278–282 are slightly loosened along the lower inner margin only but remain attached and stable.
 
Physical Details
 
• Pagination: xxxi + 597 pages, plus 8 pages of publisher’s catalogue
• Dimensions: Approx. 18.5 × 13 × 3 cm
• Weight: Approx. 475 grams
 
Rarity & Collector Notes
 
An uncommon Victorian Chandos Classics volume in its original decorative cloth. Collectible for its subject, series, and publisher. Surviving examples in attractive gilt-decorated bindings with intact textblocks are increasingly scarce, making this a desirable copy for collectors of Victorian history, anecdote, and Warne publications.
 
Provenance
 
• Ink ownership inscription on front pastedown
• Ex-libris bookplate for D. K. Sealey