Nelson and Emma; The Folio Book of Historic Speeches; The Silk Road; The Folio Book of Days; The Jubilee Years 1887-1897

Nelson and Emma by Roger Hudson. London: The Folio Society, 1994, First Print Thus. Maps by Denys Baker. 245 × 175 × 23 mm. Pp. [1–6] 7–256. Type: Modern Extended. Printed and bound by the Bath Press. Quarter dark blue buckram, cream vegetable parchment (‘Elephanthide’) boards with oval portraits of Nelson and Emma in colour; cream endleaves with a map in dark blue. White slip case with a painting of the Battle of Trafalgar in blue. The Presentation Volume for 1995. There are 91 illustrations printed in the text, 48 in colour, reproducing contemporary paintings, prints, cartoons and documents.

The Folio Book of Historic Speeches. London: The Folio Society, 2007, First Print Thus. Edited and introduced by Ian Pindar. 240 × 162 × 29 mm. Pp. [i–iv] v–xxiii [xxiv], [1–2] 3–324 [325–328]: [9] leaves of plates. Type: Dante and Gill Sans. Printed and bound by the Bath Press. Full black buckram blocked with a design in silver; silver endleaves. Black slip case covered with reproduction of photograph showing a crowd listening to Douglas Fairbanks. The plates reproduce paintings, cartoons and photographs. This was the last title printed for Folio by the Bath Press, who had produced more Folio books than any other supplier up to this point.

The Silk Road by Frances Wood. London: The Folio Society, 2002, First Print Thus. 262 × 192 × 26 mm. Pp. [1–4] 5–270 [271–272]. Type: Sabon with Ondine for display. Printed by Bath Press Colourbooks. Bound by the Bath Press in full blue-green artificial silk with a design in gold by Neil Packer; pale blue endleaves with a map by Reginald Piggott in green. Pale brown slip case with a sepia photograph. This is the first edition of this book, which is illustrated with a total of 132 photographs, largely in colour, including the title-spread. The binding design is ‘based on a 13th-century Mongolian garment’.

The Folio Book of Days. London: The Folio Society, 2002, First Print Thus. Selected and introduced by Roger Hudson. 262 × 192 × 30 mm. Pp. [1–6] 7–336. Type: Ehrhardt. Printed and bound by the Bath Press. Full dark blue buckram with a design in black and gold by David Eccles; gold-green endleaves. Gold-green slip case with a colour panel reproducing 31 numbered vignettes from the book. The Presentation Volume for 2003. The text consists of a list of the 365 days of the year accompanied by quotations from diaries and journals, historical, literary and political. The extracts are illustrated with a total of 167 reproductions of drawings, paintings and photographs, 94 in colour (including the title-spread).

The Jubilee Years 1887-1897. London: The Folio Society, 1996, First Print Thus. Compiled by Roger Hudson. 261 × 191 × 21 mm. Pp. [1–6] 7–240. Type: Bulmer. Printed and bound by the Bath Press. Quarter dark blue-green buckram, white paper boards with a design in colour by David Eccles; grey flecked endleaves. Grey slip case decorated in gold. The Presentation Volume for 1997. The text is illustrated with 67 colour and 49 monochrome reproductions of contemporary paintings, prints, documents and photographs. Eccles’s binding design is adapted from a Victorian poster. This book was chosen by Designer Bookbinders for their 1998 competition, and 200 sets of unbound sheets were supplied for this purpose.

The Silk Road is discoloured to the spine and the slipcase is a bit rubbed. The other four books are very good+ with straight corners, pages tightly bound and free of inscriptions. In like slipcases that may show a hint of shelf-wear, but are otherwise clean, without heavy bumping and structurally sound.