[GHOSTS, GHOST STORIES]
"A thorough history of our great city, considered in every aspect, would almost be a condensed history of the world. I only offer these pages to my readers as a humble contribution to the history of London."
THORNBURY, Walter. Haunted London. Illustrated by F. W. Fairholt. London, Hurst and Blackett, 1865.
FIRST EDITION (rarely on market in good condition). pp. xv, 518 + erratum. Green publisher’s cloth binding with gold stramp of Temple Bar, 1761, with title, author, and illustrator, embossed but uncoloured (giving, perhaps, a haunted feel). Small bookplate on second fly leaf, “Lady Lees, Beachlands, Ryde, I. W.” and signed “Mary Lees Beachlands Ryde,” tying the book to the Isle of Wight through Lord and Lady Lees. Sir John Lees, 3rd Baronet, of the Blackrock House, married Maria Charlotte Sullivan (Mary), on May 5th, 1839 at the British Embassy in Paris. The couple had seven children (perhaps to whom Maria read this book?). Maria was an author, penning “A Few Days in Belgium and Holland.” They lived in their island estate, Beachland, on Dover Street, until they died in within a decade of each other. In 1902, the estate was demolished. Small chip to top corner of dark brown front fly leaf, stamped with “W. H. Sm[ithson?] 166 Strand London” encircled by belt. Overall VERY GOOD condition.
Join on a spooky tour of London, stopping at Temple Bar, The Strand, Somerset House, the Savoy, Charing Cross, St. Martin’s Lane, Long Acre, Drury Lane, St. Giles, and Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
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