Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold, Decorative Leather, 1896

A decorative 19th century leather edition of Poetical Works of Matthew Arnold. Published by MacMillan and Co, London. Copyright 1896. The book includes Sonnets, Narrative Poems, Lyric Poems, Elegiac Poems, Dramatic Poems and Later Poems. The cover and backstrip is decorated with beautiful gilt floral decoration that looks like hearts. There is some wear on the covers and backstrip. There is a horizon streak on the cover near the upper left corner. Some of the leather along the outer edge of the cover is bumped. There is wear and rubbing on the backstrip leather with a larger rubbed area near the author's title area. There is also leather rubbed on the upper and lower backstrip. The bottom of the backstrip says, "1896" in gilt. The back cover has some light scratches. The outer edge of the pages are gilded. The endpapers are decorated with green swirls. The leather on the outer edge of the left endpaper stained the outer edge of the right endpaper. There is a black and white illustration of the author on the frontispiece. The tissue is present. The pages are crisp and clean with mild to moderate tanning throughout. The back endpapers are decorated.