FIRST EDITION, 4to, with 40 fine chromolithographic plates printed in colours exquisitely finished by hand in some cases amounting to a virtual miniature painting in itself, each plate accompanied by one or two pages of descriptive text. Bound in full brown morocco with gilt floral design and fillets to boards, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt, title in gilt, and emblematic tree motifs in gilt. Beautifully bound by R. Riviere, all edges gilt, inner dentelles in gilt, marbled endpapers. Bookplate of 'George Tuck' with his motto of: 'Nil Desperandum' on the front pastedown. A very fine example of a scarce book. One of the scarcest chromolithograph books published from the 1840s until the late 1860s. Coloured plates in order: 1. Title page 1. 2. Title page 2. 3. The Creation of the animal world. 4. The building of the Ark. 5. The Blessing of Isaac. 6. Pharaoh's daughter finds Moses. 7. The burning bush. 8. The Brazen Serpent. 9. The Israelites warring against the Canaanites. 10. Joshua commanded to pass over Jordan. 11. David and Goliath. 12. The Crown offered to David. 13. The Penitence of David. 14. David's Song of Praise. 15. The Death of Absalom. 16. The judgment of Solomon. 17. The Queen of Sheba's visit to Solomon. 18. The Canticle of Canticles. 19. Esther before King Ahasuerus. 20. The Genealogy of Christ. 21. The Annunciation. 22. The Salutation of Mary and Elizabeth. 23. The Nativity. 24. The birth of Christ announced to the Shepherds. 25. The Purification of the Virgin. 26. The Flight into Egypt. 27. The Murder of the Innocents. 28. The Baptism of Christ. 29. The raising of Lazarus. 30. Jesus Christ in the Storm. 31. The entry of Christ into Jerusalem. 32. The treachery of Judas. 33. Christ reviled. 34. The Crown of Thorns. 35. Christ before Pontius Pilate. 36. Christ is bearing the Cross. 37. The Entombment of Christ. 38. The Three Maries at the Sepulchre. 39. The Incredulity of St. Thomas. 40. The Ascension of Jesus Christ. 41. The four-and-twenty elders before the Throne.