THE STORY OF NELL GWYN, 1852, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND AND EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED

(GWYN, Nell) CUNNINGHAM, Peter. The Story of Nell Gwyn and the Sayings of Charles the Second. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1852. Royal octavo, mid-20th-century full green morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spines and boards, raised bands, red morocco gilt doublures, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt; housed in custom slipcases. $2800.

First edition, beautifully bound in two volumes by the Club Bindery and finished there by renowned artisan Léon Maillard, profusely extra-illustrated with over 150 engraved plates (some folding).

Long-time mistress of King Charles II of England, Eleanor "Nell" Gwyn (called "pretty, witty Nell" by Samuel Pepys) was the living embodiment of the spirit of Restoration England, and has come to be considered a folk heroine. "Nell Gwyn has never been a lady, nor does she pretend to be. Blessed with impudent wit and saucy beauty, she swiftly rises from the poverty of Covent Garden to become a sensation in the theater. Still in her teens, she catches the eye of King Charles II, and trades the stage for Whitehall Palace… to become no less than the king's favorite" (Susan Scott). Gwyn was "the most famous Restoration actress of all time, possessed of an extraordinary comic talent" (Elizabeth Howe). It was in the new form of restoration comedy that her success came— opposite Charles Hart as the "gay couple," a pair of witty, antagonistic lovers. However, "it was as the mistress of King Charles II, from 1670 until his death, that Nell endeared herself to the public… Her infectious high spirits and amazing indiscretions appealed irresistibly to a generation" (David Nash Ford). On his deathbed, King Charles instructed his brother, "Let not poor Nelly starve." James II paid off most of Gwyn's debts and gave her a pension of £1500 a year. This book has been expanded to two volumes, generously extra-illustrated with printed indexes to the illustrations in each volume, and beautifully bound by Léon Maillard at the Club Bindery. "In 1897 Robert Hoe obtained for the Club Bindery the services of Léon Maillard, who was considered by some the best finisher in Paris. Maillard was quite temperamental, working with great intensity on the tooling of designs, and while at the Club Bindery he insisted on working in a room by himself. He produced bindings of outstanding quality, incorporating the very best materials, but they were expensive and only affordable to very wealthy collectors" (Bearman et al., Fine and Historic Bookbindings from the Folger Shakespeare Library 15:9).

Fine condition. A beautiful production.