Oldham (James Basil), 1882-1962

(39 cm), (4) xiii, 72 pp., 61 collotype plates. Publisher’s blue cloth, red lettering-piece. - The standard work on those English bindings which were tooled by hand with single tools or rolls in blind, that is, without the use of gold. A classified index of over 400 rolls used in England is provided. “This is probably as near a complete catalogue as will ever be possible, and the patience and ingenuity with which Oldham has disentangled their confused history – since many passed through a bewildering number of workshops – cannot fail to excite our admiration… An indispensable tool by means of which the great majority of English roll-tooled bindings can now be localized and approximately dated” (from a review by A.R.A. Hobson, in The Library, series five, volume 7, 1952, p.284). 750 copies printed. David McKitterick, The Sandars and Lyell Lectures: a checklist (New York 1983), p.24. ¶ Clipping from a French bookseller’s catalogue description on pastedown. Lacking dust jacket; otherwise a fine, unmarked copy.