[Fine Binding | Bumpus] Epithalamion and Amoretti

Spenser, Edmund. Epithalamion and Amoretti. London: John & E. Bumpus Ltd, 1903. Frontispiece etching of Spenser by C. Bird and central title page vignette of Elizabeth Boyle. Text features elaborate engraved initials and small in-text etchings as head and tail-pieces.

A lavish binding for Bumpus in full olive green crushed morocco, the upper cover panelled in gilt and richly tooled over a pointillé ground with an interlacing inlaid vine-and-leaf design in dark green, studded with tiny red inlaid roundels and framed by four gilt beaded medallions around a larger central cartouche. Tudor-rose motifs (gilt with red inlaid accents) at the corners & edges and around the central panel. Five bands to spine with title and author to second and third compartments, the remaining with inlaid leafy sprays tooled on a pointillé ground and touched with small colored inlaid roundels. Double gilt fillet borders to the rear cover; gilt-ruled turn-ins with tooled leaf cornerpieces, plain endpapers, all edges gilt. Stamp in gilt on the rear turn-in: “J. & E. Bumpus Ltd. 350 Oxford St. W.” Measures approx. 5.75" x 8.5".

Front cover and spine lightly mellowed, rear cover retaining original shade of green. 

Although signed Bumpus, the workmanship is almost certainly that of Riviere & Son, based on the design and tooling. Bumpus was a West End bookseller who routinely commissioned luxury bindings--"most notably from Riviere" (Bayntun)--and many Bumpus-signed bindings of this caliber can be attributed to that shop. 

A stunning example and exactly the sort of virtuoso work associated with Riviere & Son's high end bindings.