Opinions on leather Nonesuch Press books?

I have been looking at some Nonesuch press books from around 1930 that have a full leather binding and, on the face of it, they seem quite nice:

Florio's translation of Montaigne's essays
Don Quixote illustrated by E. McKnight Kauffer
Confessions of Rousseau
The Compleat Walton
The seven-volume complete Shakespeare

Is there anyone with first-hand experience of these books that can comment on the overall quality of production and materials? Do they deserve a place on the shelves of a fine press collector, or would one be better off looking at other editions?

I have De Motu Cordis, and the answer is an easy yes.

>1 ubiquitousuk:

1. Avoid any edition with John Florio's translation of Montaigne's essays. It is antiquated and there are currently several better modern translations available.

2. The 7-volume edition of the complete works of Shakespeare is one of a half-dozen Nonesuch Press high points. As a combination of scholarship and The Arts of the Book (fine handmade paper, flawless printing, beautiful full morocco bindings, etc.) I consider it the finest complete Shakespeare edition of the twentieth century.

I have all but the Compleat Walton. I highly recommend the Nonesuch Press, particularly its full leather binding editions.

I fully agree with >3 dlphcoracl: second point about the Shakespeare set. It is one of the highlights of my library.

I think owning Nonesuch's edition of Montaigne is still worthwhile, but if you only owned one edition, I would go with a modern translation.

>3 dlphcoracl: "The 7-volume edition of the complete works of Shakespeare is one of the three Nonesuch Press high points."

What are the other two? The Metamorphoses and the Dickens set?

Correction: I meant the Divine Comedy rather than the Metamorphoses.

>5 ultrarightist:

I was much too hasty. I should have said "a half dozen" rather than three:

1. The Nonesuch Complete Dickens set - 23 vols.

2. The Holy Bible (Authorized Version 1611) - 5 volume set. This applies ONLY to the special edition of 75 copies printed on Arnold's unbleached handmade rag paper with full morocco and gilt bindings.

3. The bilingual Iliad and the Odyssey - both in full morocco bindings.

4. The History of Herodotus of Halicarnassus. The classic translation by G. Rawlinson with revision and extensive marginal annotation by Prof. A.W. Lawrence, the Laurence Professor of Classical Archeology at Cambridge University. Aqua blue vellum and gilt binding.

5. La Divina Commedia or the Divine Vision of Dante. With beautiful reproductions of Sandro Botticelli's original illustrations by the Atelier Jacomet of Paris. Full orange vellum and gilt binding.

Note that 2, 3, and the 7-volume Complete Shakespeare come in identical (or near-identical) full tan niger morocco and gilt bindings.

>6 dlphcoracl: Thanks for the clarification and I agree 100%. Note that I made a mistake in my post above and meant the Divine Comedy rather than the Metamorphoses.

I have numbers 3, 4, and 5 (plus the Shakespeare set). I was eyeing number 2 at a local bookstore for years. Earlier this year, I went back with the intent to purchase it, but Peter Harrington beat me to it by a week. Very upsetting. I'm kicking myself for not purchasing it during my earlier visits. It is a magnificent set.

Do you have all 6 (including the Shakespeare set) on your list?

>7 ultrarightist:

Yes. I own all six editions as described above.

A collecting hint from bitter experience..........

If you are still thinking about a book purchase 24-48 hours after the initial listing or discovery, simply buy it. For every episode of Buyer's Remorse you will suffer ten episodes of Non-Buyer's Remorse.

>8 dlphcoracl: Truth

>8 dlphcoracl: >9 ultrarightist: and on the rare occasion you suffer buyer's remorse, you can usually recoup most of your expenditure by reselling the book anyway.

Thanks everyone for the insights. This is likely to be another expensive thread...

>1 ubiquitousuk:

1. I like Florio’s Montaigne for its quaintness and charm more than its accuracy. The Nonesuch edition is solid and attractive but I wish it was in a larger format and the type was a point or two bigger.

2. The main problem with the Don Quixote set is that the covers have a tendency to fade and mottle in an unattractive way, putting a higher price on the less blemished copies. I haven’t noticed this problem so much with their other full leather editions.

Francis Meynell (founder of Nonesuch) said that the Casinensis thin hand-made paper chosen for this edition was “perhaps the most attractive ever used by the Nonesuch Press.” Personally I like the thicker rag papers, particularly the Van Gelder paper of their Milton and Dante.

3 & 4. I don’t have the Rousseau or the Walton.

5. The Nonesuch Shakespeare is still the best way to read the First Folio text, errors included, with variant readings from the Quartos and modern emendations easily to hand in the margins. The limited edition combines this editorial accomplishment with beautiful materials, design and craftsmanship.

All (I think) of the full leather Nonesuch editions originally came in slipcases, though these can be hard to find now.

>7 ultrarightist: Mr Harrington did the same to me. He grabbed a full vellum Nonesuch Milton I’d been eyeing for £950 and put it up for sale himself at £1500.

The Nonesuch Dante is a high point in my meager collection, especially as the spine is not faded. Fading is definitely a problem with this book. To find a copy with unfaded spine and flat boards (no warping) would be a thrilling occasion.

The nonesuch Don Quixote is probably the most underrated fine press book I know, it will sound like an overstatement but I think it has the best illustrations of any book I've ever seen, the pochoir is perfect, the paper is delightful, and the bindings are perfect and tough.
The Shakespeare is mostly attractive because it is so well made, typographically it works very well.
The Dante doesn't work for me, & neither does their edition of the bible, I find them uncomfortable to read.
The nonesuch works of Milton & Blake are the best for reading, the paper, typography, especially in the vellum bindings, with illustrations (from Blake in both editions) printed on Japan.
There are also much cheaper but lovely books published by the press, for instance Fontenelle's plurality of worlds, Melville's Benito Cerino, the poems of Marvell, on italian hand-made paper, & George Herbert (in a brocade binding & red-ruled though-out) & of Coleridge (really interesting illustrations in the latter, printed very dark on auvergne hand made paper, the whole bound in bright orange vellum, with gold thongs, and metallic almost iridescent oriental-patterned endpapers - and yet altogether it feels understated, probably the essential aesthetic of the nonesuch press.)

Specifically thinking of their leather bindings, it is very rare to find in good condition, but they printed a few copies of Donne's works in a separate edition, on Holland paper and using a grey blue ink for the ornaments, the main beauty of which is the rich blue morocco binding, simply tooled with 'John Donne' in gold, and 4 raised bands. It's hard even to find pictures online of a good copy, they have mostly faded to green and brown, and look battered in most cases. Again the bindings are tough. I remember reading somewhere that Francis Meynell once took a volume of the Shakespeare from his shelf, & strained the book by opening it 360 degrees until the outside covers were touching, before putting it back unaffected - to show how strong he thought a book should be bound. I think William Morris once said something similar about bindings, that they got a lot of their beauty from their apparent durability.

>14 erodoto: That anecdote reminded me of Meynell's printed note, inserted into copies of the Nonesuch Iliad, about how to prepare the book for these sort of gymnastics:

>15 bookist: It's interesting isn't it? It makes me wonder about all the books I have which don't quite open flat, whether it's the binding or the original "opening" that's at fault. As for something 'much less sharp than a ham-slicer', the anxiety is how much different kinds of paper vary, for me it seems that what works for one book could easily mutilate the next. I'm always grateful not to have unopened pages. Have you followed Meynell's method for opening of any books?

>16 erodoto:

I think it would be risky to follow Meynell's advice on any binding that isn't relatively new. My copy of the Nonesuch Iliad doesn't lie flat when open, but I have no problems reading it and I'm content to leave it that way.

I agree that different tools are needed for cutting open different types of paper. I normally use a dull pen knife on thick rag paper, and something very much blunter like a piece of notecard for India paper. That said, I've spoilt a few pages doing this over the years.

>15 bookist: tangentially, does anyone know of a place to buy a long paper knife explicitly designed for this task?

It is a hard term to even search for on the web.

>18 abysswalker: Searching eBay for "paper knife" or "letter opener" produces a lot of results. The metal type are perhaps more versatile, since you could sharpen one side and leave the other blunt. Avoid anything with a serrated edge.

>18 abysswalker:

https://www.talasonline.com/Bookbinders-Knife

https://www.talasonline.com/Clip-Point-Knife

https://www.talasonline.com/Paper-Knife

With apologies to >3 dlphcoracl:, my first of these books has arrived and it's Florio's Montaigne. The translation is indeed archaic and I am not sure I'll ever read the thing from cover to cover, but I got a good deal on the book because most people in the country were too busy watching football to bid. My first impressions are quite positive: the leather feels incredibly supple and the combination of leather, banding and gold and green cover motif are quite handsome. The paper is a bit thin and the type a little small, but I love the simple typographical design. I'll definitely be looking for others to put on the shelf next to it.

>21 ubiquitousuk:
As you further explore the rabbit hole of Nonesuch collecting, there is a wonderful book by John Dreyfus, The History of the Nonesuch Press (1981), which I think you’ll enjoy. It includes a descriptive catalogue of every title. When you see a bookseller’s listing refer to Dreyfus, this is the book they mean. Unfortunately, this book itself has become a bit of a collector’s item and is getting pricey.