1895 The Story Of Rosina by Austin Dobson Antique Illustrated Fiction Book

The volume is profusely illustrated by celebrated Victorian artist Hugh Thomson, whose finely drawn figures and period settings provide an ideal complement to Dobson's nostalgic verse. Thomson was particularly admired for his illustrations of eighteenth-century society and literary classics, and his work appears throughout this volume in full-page plates, decorative headings, vignettes and illustrations integrated with the text. Dobson himself acknowledges in the preface how fortunate the work was in its illustrator, praising Thomson's ability to capture "the half-light of a bygone time."

Presented here is the 1895 first edition, handsomely produced by the Ballantyne Press and retaining its original red cloth bindings. The front board and spine are elaborately decorated and lettered in gilt, with the especially impressive cover depicting Rosina, her musician and a flock of sheep beneath a dense leafy border. Combining Dobson's elegant period verse, Thomson's accomplished artwork and superb late-Victorian decorative binding, this is a highly appealing volume for collectors of illustrated books, Victorian poetry and fine nineteenth-century bindings."