A superb production in half crushed morocco and bound with 44 extra plates not organic to the original printing. No copies at the available at the time of cataloguing, not seen at auction since 1942 and a similar extra-illustrated copy selling in in 1925 for $20.00, a significant sum in today's dollars. 

Contains lavish and intimate love letters to and from Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Samuel Jonson, Robert Burns, Mary Wollstonecraft, William Cowper, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley [Mary Shelley], Lord Byron, Jeremy Bentham, Walter Scott, Hugh Miller, etc. 

The 44 extra plates are in addition to the 30 organic plates, making a total of 77. Many of the plates themselves are fine early examples of significant value, i.e. the beautiful etching of Mary Wollstonecraft by Anna Lea Merritt, etc. 

A lovely gift or mutual celebration of love item.

Merydew, J. T. Love Letters of Famous Men and Women of the Past and Present Century. Two Volumes. With Portraits. London. Remington & Co. 1888. + 366 + 313pp. 

Very good condition, slightest nicks to leather at the head of the crushed morocco spines, minor rubbing at corners. Light rubbing to the linen boards. Some rather minor foxing on only the first few leaves. Remarkably fresh and bright overall.