Quarto. [4]pp. With an additional engraved title page and 31 engraved plates. Handsomely bound in contemporary green morocco, richly tooled in gilt and blind, monogram of George Capell-Coningsby, 5th Earl of Essex (1757- 1839) to head of spine, A.E.G. A trifle rubbed, spine lightly sunned. Inked ownership inscription 'T. Balston. Jan. 1923' to recto of front blank fly-leaf, scattered spotting.

A particularly handsome copy of the sole edition of celebrated antiquary and topographer John Britton's (1771-1857) suite of superlative plates, engraved after paintings by watercolour artist George Fennell Robson (1788-1833), one of a number of money-spinning volumes with mass-produced steel engravings he published in the final decades of his life.

Provenance: Thomas Balston (1883-1967), British publisher, scholar of English book production and illustration, amateur artist.