Irving's Works - A series of Beautiful Antique Leather Bound Books by Washington Irving

Now to share with you some of the other things that I purchased at Saturday's auction!  I purchased (11) beautiful leather bound books, copyright 1867, by the noted author Washington Irving. These books are part of a complete work of Irving's entitled Irving's Works.  Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian. He is perhaps best known for his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon Gent (also known as Sketch-Book) in which appears his beloved short stories, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle".
Included in the series of the first (6) books that I purchased are A History of New York which Irving wrote under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker and The Sketch Book which was written under the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. 

This series also contains Irving's Works 3., 4., and 5. which is Volume I, II, and III of The life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus.  This was the first project of Irving's to be published with his own name, instead of a pseudonym, on the title page.

The last book in this series is entitled Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, which was written under the pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

First 6 books of Irving’s Works 1. Knickerbocker’s New York; Irving’s Works 2. Sketch-Book; Irving’s Works 3. Columbus VOL. I.; Irving’s Works 4. Columbus VOL II.; Irving’s Works 5. Columbus III.; Irving’s Works 6. Bracebridge Hall.

These books are not only beautiful because of the wonderful leather binding, gilt lettering and marbelized design on the front, but also because they each contain (2) wonderfully detailed steel engravings which preceed the title pages.

Beautiful leather binding, gilt lettering and marbelized cover page.

(Just in case you aren't aware, these steel engravings are highly sought after and are often taken out of books to be framed and used as wall pictures.  An example of this practice is my series of (4) bird engravings that I shared recently.)


Note: **Update on Cleaning Demijohns - Kathryn left a greatly appreciated comment sharing with me more tips on bottle cleaning. She recommends using a soft bristle bottle brush with vinegar for smaller bottles and notes that Williams-Sonoma has a decanter cleaner brush that works well. Thank you Kathryn!

I love this! I love this sharing of information and ideas. If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment. I'm not totally happy with how my bottles look as I ran out of vinegar and rice! Off to the grocery store I go.

As always, thank you for taking your time to check out my "musings" from time to time.  I love writing and really enjoy sharing with you.

Take care and Au revoir, Mitty