Search Results: Exploration from Setton Book Collection

Near fine: a couple of very minor scratches on spine, a little fraying at head of spine, slipcase shows a little shelf wear. Interior of volume and front and back boards are pristine.This volume was a personal gift from Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (1923 - 2005) to the eminent medievalist Kenneth M. Setton (1914 – 1995) on the occasion of a visit by Prince Rainier and Princess Grace to her hometown of Philadelphia in the 1960's. (Professor Setton was at the time Director of Libraries at the University of Pennsylvania.) Bound into the volume is the prince's card, with a note in his handwriting to professor Setton.This is a deluxe binding on heavy hand-laid paper with deckled edges and gilt page tops. It is one of a limited number of copies; this copy however is not numbered, apparently because it came from the royal family. It appears to be similar to the 400 Papeteries du Marais exemplars as the pages do not bear the watermarked arms of the Grimaldi family. This edition was published on 11… Read More

King's College London seal gilt stamped on from cover, gilt dentelles inside edges of boards, three page edges gilt. Foldout in in fine condition. 367 pages.Robert Curzon Jr., 14th Baron Zouche (1810 - 1873) was a traveler, author, briefly a member of Parliament, and a collector, if not a connoisseur, of Biblical and other ancient manuscripts. He traveled extensively in the Levant (Egypt, the Greek Islands, Jerusalem, Greece and Mont Athos) beginning in 1833. Certainly by his collecting (some said looting) a considerable number of priceless manuscripts, they have been preserved, but whether he was a gentleman traveler and bibliographer or a gentleman thief who cared little about significance and more about profit, is disputed.In any event he is an engaging writer and provides lively and interesting pictures of Arab and Greek life in a turbulent time, soon after the Greek War of Independence. Travel was arduous and dangerous at the time, and required an adventurous spirit. He wrote down the account… Read More