Collections of an Only Child: Seventy Years a Bibliophile, the Library of Justin G. Schiller

London: Johannis Whittaker, 1816. Folio. 13 leaves completely printed in gold on thick paper, on rectos only (comprising half-title, title-page, and 11 leaves of text of the Magna Carta). Full contemporary brown paneled calf, elaborately decorated in blind and in gilt, rebacked with portion of original spine laid down, tips renewed, boards scuffed and moderately worn; all edges gilt; elaborately gilt dentelles; scattered spotting to text; sheets toned; scattered light thumbsoiling in margins.

Scarce copy of John Whittaker's gold-printed edition of the Magna Carta, a "gorgeous and unrivaled production" (Dibdin, Bibliographical Decameron), and "the most magnificent of all editions of the Magna Carta" (Lowndes). Published in commemoration of the 600th anniversary of the charter's signing. As Maggs notes, copies vary greatly in composition, with some issued with more text leaves, and with some copies printed on vellum, and other more ordinary copies issued on paper or thick card, as seen here.