Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs In Great Britain. Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time

London: George Redway, 1887. Limited Edition. Original Cloth. Fine. No. 376 of 400 copies printed. Thin, square 8vo: viii,91,[1]pp, with frontispiece ("Frost fair on the River Thames, in 1814") and two full-page engravings ("Frost Fair on the Thames in the reign of Charles II" and "Frost Fair on the Thames"). Publisher's finely woven black cloth, beveled boards, spine and upper cover ruled and lettered in gilt, back cover ruled in blind, top edge gilded, coated and mottled end papers, title page in red and black. Fine copy of this scarce work on the winter festivals of the Little Ice Age. Between 1400 and 1835, the Thames froze over 24 times, and merchants and manufacturers moved their various industries onto the ice (frost fairs were even far more common on the Continent, especially in the Netherlands). During the Great Frost of 1683-84, the worst recorded in England, the Thames was frozen over for two months, with the ice reaching a thickness of 11 inches in London. The final frost, in 1814, when an elephant was led across the river below Blackfriars Bridge, began on February 1 and lasted just four days. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).