The enemies of books

Inbunden bok.

Gott skick. London, Elliot Stock, 1896 (edition not stated, originally printed in 1880). 151 pages in publishers cloth hardcover with gilt illustrations and gilt double ruled border on front and back covers. Top edges are gilt and fore- and foot-edges are deckled. Endpapers are patterned with a slightly raised surface-texture. Preface by Richard Garnett. Illustrated by Louis Gunnis and H. E. Butler. Bookplate with armor/shield and the text "vincit qui se vincit" and below the name "James Coupe". There is also a card with gift inscription attached, from Sxxxx Björck to Harald Elovson. Measure (base x height): 17.5 x 24 cm. --- Even though the thick pages are durable, they are not acid-free which has resulted in foxing. There are numerous spots but atleast they are fairly light and not very disturbing. Light to moderate traces of handling on a few pages, the rest are without. Covers are alittle worn around the corners and on the edge of the spine, along the back cover joint. Spine ends are bumped and the back cover has a scrape-mark which also shows on previously mentioned spine edge. --- Synopsis (from other edition): "THERE are many of the forces of Nature which tend to injure Books; but among them all not one has been half so destructive as Fire. It would be tedious to write out a bare list only of the numerous libraries and bibliographical treasures which, in one way or another, have been seized by the Fire-king as his own. Chance conflagrations, fanatic incendiarism, judicial bonfires, and even household stoves have, time after time, thinned the treasures as well as the rubbish of past ages, until, probably, not one thousandth part of the books that have been are still extant."