Sesame And Lilies - The Ethics Of The Dust

London: George Allen & Sons. ,. Near Fine with no dust jacket. 1908. Presumed First UK Edition in this series/binding. Soft. Although Ruskin has fallen out of favour nowadays - this is the most wonderful example of a suede bound gift book of the period. In FINE deep purple suede with yapp edges and very bright gilt titling to the spine and front cover. Whilst the rear cover is plain there is a charming small art nouveau design stamped in a dull silver (? ) all over the front cover. Most books in this colour would have faded or turned to brown, or similar, but this is a beautiful deep and uniform purple. Top edge bright gilt. The remaining page fore-edges are VERY lightly toned apart from the last segment of about 15 pages where the edge is a deeper tan - perhaps a different batch of paper used? Internally browned swirly endpapers, or swirly endpapers that have browned - it's difficult to tell, not unattractive. A gift note written in ink on the front free endpaper and dated 1909. The rest of the book is immaculate. A decorative 2 page 'Works' title page in b/w with a printed photo of Ruslin and an intricate 'rose' design all over those pages - by RKC. Followed by a printed title page with a small attractive St George and the dragon illustration in the centre (George Allens's logo? ) in the centre. 360 pp including Prefaces and Indices to both works. There is also an excellent integral purple ribbon bookmarker. The book has been lovingly preserved in a box (not the right one! ) and covered with (probably the original) glassine wraps. BEAUTIFUL copy. See Images. ; The Works of Ruskin; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .