The Sonnets of William Shakespeare. [Cosway].

SHAKESPEARE, William. [Cosway].

Item Number: 123490

London: The Riccardi Press, 1913.

The complete sonnets of William Shakespeare bound by Bayntun-Riviere in an elaborate Cosway-style binding. Octavo, bound in full morocco by Bayntun-Riviere with a hand painted miniature ivorene portrait of Shakespeare under glass to the front panel within a gilt border, gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling and ornamental cornerpieces to the front panel, gilt ruling and central floral vignette to the rear panel, gilt turn-ins, inner dentelles, watered silk doublures and endleaves, all edges gilt. One of 1000 copies printed on handmade Riccardi paper. In fine condition. Exceptionally rare.

Cosway bindings (named for renowned 19th-century English miniaturist Richard Cosway) were popularized, if not invented, in the early 1900s by the renowned London bookselling firm of Henry Sotheran. The earliest Cosway bindings were created by Miss C.B. Currie who faithfully imitated Cosway's detailed watercolor style of portraiture from designs by J.H. Stonehouse, Sotheran’s manager. These delicate miniature paintings, often on ivory, were set into the covers or doublures of richly-tooled bindings and protected by a thin pane of glass.