4 volumes. [6], lviii, 362; [ii], 450; [ii], 446; [ii], 446, [26 subscriber list] pp. Engraved portrait by Eisen and 46 plates by Cipriani, Cochin, Eisen, Greuze, Monnet and Moreau, engraved by Bartolozzi, Choffard, Duclos, Moreau, Ponce, Prevost, Simonet, etc. Two of the plates (Cantos X and XIX) have been trimmed and mounted to larger sheets. (4to) 29.8x23.5 cm (11¾x9¼") old straight-grain red morocco, gilt ruled borders, spines ruled and lettered in gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. One of only 100 large paper copies. First Baskerville Edition.
Finely printed from the same typesetting as the simultaneously issued octavo edition. The large paper copies are quite rare, only appearing at auction only three times since 1975, most recently in 2009. A high-point in the Baskerville canon, illustrated by the finest artists and engravers of the day. Each volume with the armorial bookplate of Aleksander Vlasov, with his crest and the legend "Non Ignobile Otium". Alexander Sergeyevish Vlasov was Chamberlain of the Russian Emperor Alexander I, noted bibliophile, collector of paintings, drawings, and works of decorative and applied art. Gaskell 48b; Brunet I 438.
Condition:
Some light wear and bindings, restoration to the spine of Volume 4; dark stain in the lower margin throughout Volume 4, larger at the start of the volume then diminishing to almost gone before returning a bit in the latter half of the volume, the staining does not touch the text or illustrations, some light foxing; plate impressions generally strong; very good. Rare.