TWO VOLUMES tall octavo dark green elaborately gilt and blind-stamped morocco on 4 wide raised bands, spine compartments and cover panels gilt with fine floral tooling (tips bit rubbed but no wear or splits) All Edges Gilt. Gilt leather ownership label "REES" on each pastedown. Unpaginated: Vol.I Title + contents leaf +[8]pp Address in English and in French + 50 plates each with [4]pp description of subject's life and work; Vol.II Title + contents leaf + 50 plates each with [4]pp of text. All subjects in alphabetical order across the two volumes. A few plates with foxing on unillustrated part of plate, 2 or 3 with marginal damp tidemark and a few other signs of use, but plates and text pages on heavy paper are otherwise white and clean throughout. *An interesting collection of rulers (e.g. Francis I of France by Titian, Gustav II of Sweden by Van Dyke, Peter I of Russia), artists (Leonardo da Vinci, Durer, Lely, Reynolds, Rubens), explorers/military (Capt James Cook, Raleigh, Duke of Marlborough, Nelson, General Fairfax) and authors (Dante, La Fontaine, Johnson, Milton, Shakespeare, Erasmus, John Locke, Isaac Newton, Martin Luther) with biographical texts following their portraits. *All in very handsome pair of fine bindings.