[Rarebooks] fa: SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE'S copy of LADY MORGAN'S ITALY - 1821 - FULL PERIOD POLISHED CALF

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, May 6. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/7pgngb4

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


Lady Morgan: Italy. London: Henry Cplburn and Co., 1821. A new edition (published in the same year as the first edition). Three volumes, 8vo, in full period polished calf, gilt-tooled borders and spine decorations, marbled endpapers and page edges; 516, [2] pp.; 486 pp.; 443, [1] pp.

Sir Moses Montefiore's copy, with his engraved armorial bookplates bearing his motto, "Think and thank." Montefiore (1784-1885) was one of the most prominent (and longest lived) Jewish figures in nineteenth-century England. Financier, broker, banker, profiteer of the Napoleonic Wars, partner of Nathan Rothschild, and Sheriff of London, he spent the last 60 years of his life in philanthropic pursuits, aiding Jewish causes at home, rescuing distressed and imprisoned Jews abroad, and actively supporting the Jewish community in Palestine. He is considered a pivotal figure in the development of Proto-Zionism. Lady Morgan's work is particularly apropos, as Montefiore was born and spent the first few months of his life in Livorno, Italy, while his father conducted business there. It was from Italy that his grandfather Moses had emigrated in the 1740s and it remained a favorite destination of the younger Moses all his long life. These early bookplates are examples of the first incarnation of Montefiore's crest and arms, registered in 1819, based on the family badge embroidered on an Ark curtain presented by an ancestor to the synagogue of Ancona in 1635. Later, after his knighthood and peerage, he was allowed to add banners in Hebrew and "supporters" in the form of a a lion and stag.

Sydney, Lady Morgan (1781-1859) was a popular Irish novelist (The Wild Irish Girl, etc.) whose politics were radical for the time. Her account of her travels in Italy, while admired by many for its lively descriptions of Rome, Venice, Milan, Naples, etc., was controversial for its sympathetic view of the French Revolution, its rather breathless tone when it came to Napoleon Bonaparte, and its condemnation of the lamentable state into which Italy had fallen since his defeat. The work was banned throughout much of the country it described. Lord Byron, not surprisingly, was a fan, describing it in a letter to John Murray as "a really excellent book, I assure you, on Italy."

Bindings show light rubbing, bumping and wear to the corners; several hinges professionally repaired, two hinges show some cracking but boards are secure; light foxing to the endpapers, a few traces of spotting elsewhere, but contents are generally very clean and fresh, firmly bound. A handsome set with a significant provenance.