Bidspirit auction | 1887. Longfellow and Tennyson. Poetical

1887. Longfellow and Tennyson. Poetical Works. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Household Edition. - This lot comprises two octavo volumes of poetry published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company at The Riverside Press, Cambridge, in 1887. The volumes are titled The Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and The Poetical Works of Alfred Tennyson, both designated as the Household Edition. Both books are bound in fine full tree calf leather with ornate gilt-tooled spines featuring five raised bands and two contrasting leather title labels in red and black/dark green. The covers are decorated with gilt Greek key borders and gilt-tooled inner dentelles. The volumes feature all edges gilt, marbled endpapers in comb and shell patterns, and red silk ribbon bookmarks. Each volume contains an engraved frontispiece portrait with a facsimile signature and is illustrated throughout with numerous black-and-white wood engravings. The Longfellow volume copyright page lists various dates spanning from 1841 to 1886. A pencil notation on a preliminary blank page of one volume reads 45B over an illegible signature. Very good. The bindings show light rubbing and wear to the corners and spine ends, with minor surface scuffing to the leather boards. The interiors show occasional light foxing and mild toning to the paper, though the text and illustrations remain clear. The gilt edges are bright and the bindings are secure.