The Winter Wreath
New York: Leavitt and Allen, 1853. First Edition. Quarto, 224 pages, publisher’s original gilt-decorated red cloth-covered boards, with a deeply blind-stamped diamond panel to both boards. All edges gilt. Illustrated in black-and-white. Now in a protective clear mylar jacket. The Winter Wreath, edited by Nathaniel Parker Willis, is a mid-nineteenth-century American literary gift book published in New York by Leavitt & Allen in 1853. The volume forms part of the popular Victorian tradition of seasonal annuals intended for holiday presentation and leisurely reading. It contains a selection of poetry, short stories, and reflective essays by contemporary writers, presenting themes of sentiment, domestic life, nature, and moral reflection that appealed to the tastes of the period. Like many gift books of the era, the work was attractively produced and illustrated with engraved plates, making it both a literary anthology and an ornamental volume designed for parlor reading and seasonal gift-giving. Fraying along front hinge, some minor discoloration to the cloth, occasional light scattered foxing, one section of pages slightly shaken, slight damage to top and bottom of spine, else in very good condition. Item #224
Price: $750.00