LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth. The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow In a MAUCHLINE WARE BINDING

LONGFELLOW, Henry Wadsworth. The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo, n.d. (c.1880). Post octavo. pp. [x], 663. Bound in a fine Mauchline Ware binding. Covers of bevelled wooden boards with design of ferns transferred from paper onto the sycamore boards with central illustration of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on the upper cover. Spine professionally rebacked with original gilt decorated back-strip laid down. All edges gilt. A very good example of this unique and rare style of binding.  Fern ware bindings mainly date from the 1870s, being an adaptation of Mauchline ware. In most cases actual ferns were used directly or indirectly, using three or four different processes in the manufacture. After the ferns were applied to the wooden surface it was then subjected to a dark brown stipple treatment before the removal of the ferns and subsequent varnishing.