A Bluestocking Knits

"This week’s Booking Through Thursday question, suggested by Jeanne, is here by popular demand. Thank you, ladies!"

1. What is the most beautiful book you own? This is the one that I was thinking of when I proferred the question — I have a lot of books that are full of lovely photographs or art, but this is one of my favorites.  It’s an 1890 Routledge edition of Amelia B. Edwards‘ A Thousand Miles Up the Nile, which I bought from an antiquarian bookseller some years ago.
2. In what way is it beautiful? Is it the illustrations, the binding, a combination of these, or something else? I don’t think that I can judge a book solely by its cover, and so at least part of my visual appreciation for this book is due to my memories of its contents.  I love Egyptology and am something of a Victorian at heart, so I find this period of history fascinating.  Edwards did the illustrations herself, as well — she was a bit of a Renaissance woman, being a novelist, artist, traveller, lecturer, etc.  The book’s binding is a deep sky blue now, with gilt decorations, rather spectacular I think.  The illustrations are all black-and-white, but I think that Edwards was intending to reach a wide audience, so perhaps the price was kept reasonable that way.  I didn’t know that this copy had an inscription when I bought it — see the photo below — but it makes the book even more special to me.
3. How often do you look at it, browse through it, read it? I’m afraid that it was a bit dusty when I pulled it off the shelf, but I had already been thinking that it was time for a re-read!