Cosway binding. 190 x 130 mm. Three p.l. (frontispiece, title advertisement) ix-xi [i] 212 pp. FIRST EDITION. Very striking early 20th-century midnight blue crushed morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe for Charles Sawyer Ltd. of London. (stamp-signed this way and with the "S&S" monogram on rear turn-in) covers with rosettes of inlaid pink and red morocco complex corner pieces incorporating a crown and interlocking "CC" cypher front panel with an intricate "NG" monogram encircled and entwined with delicate gilt foliate vines terminating in inlaid pink morocco roses; raised bands spine gilt in compartments with central ornaments of an inlaid rosette a crown or an interlocking "CC" red morocco doublures the front doublure with a Cosway-style oval portrait of Nell Gwyn on ivory under glass the portrait within a sunken oval frame adorned with leafy vines small gilt tools and eight flowers of inlaid black morocco; red watered silk end-leaves top edge gilt. Housed in a (faded and worn) velvet-lined blue cloth clamshell box. EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with 33 engraved plates, nine of them hand coloured plus two engraved vignettes of Gwyn's sons by King Charles. Printed on less than superb quality paper but in every other way A BEAUTIFUL BOOK IN EXCEPTIONALLY FINE CONDITION - the volume showing virtually no signs of use internally or externally and with the doublures and portrait especially lustrous. The "Cosway" binding with painted miniatures inlaid in handsome morocco originated with the London bookselling firm of Henry Sotheran about 1909, the year G. C. Williamson's book entitled "Richard Cosway" was remaindered by Sotheran and presumably given this special decorative treatment. The name "Cosway"--referring to the British miniature painter Richard Cosway (1742-1821)--was then used to describe any book so treated whoever its author. The earliest Cosway bindings were executed by Miss C. B. Currie, who is known to have worked between 1912-40, usually from designs by J. H. Stonehouse. The present book is an extremely appealing copy of the biography of Eleanor ("Nell") Gwyn (1650-87), an orange-seller and actress who became the most famous of Charles II's mistresses. Despite being illiterate, she was a successful comedienne, and she meant so much to the king that he is reported to have said on his deathbed, "Don't let poor Nelly starve." She died of apoplexy only two years after the king. Coloured plates in order: 1. Oval portrait of Nell Gwyn on Ivory, under glass. 2. Nell Gwyn. 3. William Wycherley. 4. George Villiers, Second Duke of Buckingham. 5. Mrs. Robinson. 6. Dorothy Sidney, Countess of Sutherland. 7. Louise, Dutchess of Portsmouth in an Undress. 8. Thomas Otway. 9. [Not Captioned] A Young Lady