Lalla Rookh: An Oriental Romance by Thomas Moore, 1846, Custom Binding

Binding Details:  A full pebbled leather binding featuring a gilt decorated spine with raised bands, ruled compartments with floral stops, and gold gilt titling.  The covers are decorated with extensive gold ruling and a floral design. There are gilt decorated edges and turn downs as well as gold gilted page ends.

Book Details:  Originally published in 1817, this is the 1846 new edition of “Lalla Rookh: An Oriental Romance” published by Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, London that features illustrations from engravings designed by Richard Westhall. Thomas Moore is now best remembered for the lyrics of "The Minstrel Boy" and "The Last Rose of Summer," though in his own day, his oriental romance Lalla Rookh was considered his major work. The story relates the journey of the princess Lalla Rookh from Delhi to Kashmir, where she is to marry the young King of Bucharia whom she has never met. From its first appearance Lalla Rookh inspired the romantic imaginations of artists, dramatists and composers alike with its heady combination of drama, poetry, romance, pathos, fantasy, horror and exoticism.

The book measures approximately 6.5” x 4.25” with 376 pages.

Condition Report:  The binding is in Very Good condition with some shelf wear. Internally, there is sporadic minor foxing in the text with more pronounced foxing to the preliminary pages and illustrations that were printed on different paper that was more prone to foxing. There is a small ink gift inscription dated 1868 that appears on the top of the first free endpaper.

Photographs of the binding appear in the photo section of the listing.