Two parts in one volume. Royal quarto (34.5x26 cm). Pp. 96; (ii), 97-139; 106. Plus 22 exquisite chromolithographic plates including frontispiece. Wood-engraved armorial main title-page; tinted elaborate allegorical first book title-page; engraved armorial second book title-page. Text within woodcut decorative borders. Elaborate wood-engraved initials, text figures; main title and last plate foxed. Hardcover, bound in later red full cloth. In about fine condition. ~ First edition, using unpublished divisional title-pages from 1857 and 1861, respectively. Very rare. Splendid plates with rich, dense colours and excellent gloss, beautifully finished by hand. An authoritative manual on chromolithography in 1885 (Colour and Colour Printing, by W. D. Richmond) asserts the need for at least nine separate stones to achieve such richness, but in fact the number of stones used was often more than twenty. ~ Provenance: From the library of C. P. Mulder, renowned collector and international heraldry authority, with his charming armorial bookplate,"Nil Desperandum", to first free endpaper. For a complete catalogue of Mulder's library, from which we offer a considerable number of items, see: C. P. Mulder: "Catalogue of Works on Orders, Decorations and Medals in the Library of C. P. Mulder" (Rotterdam, 1988). See also: C. P. Mulder & A. A. Purves: "Bibliography of Orders and Decorations" (Copenhagen, 1999).
