Decorated pretty book "The Old Gentleman of the Black Stock" 1901 Thomas Nelson Page

"The Old Gentleman of the Black Stock", by Thomas Nelson Page, published in 1901 by Charles Scribner's Sons.8vo, cloth wrapped boards, gorgeous gilt text block top, deckled outer edge, glossy title page in color, and several glossy color plates, 170 pages.This is a "very good" antique book. The spine is solid, albeit cocked, the hinges are tight and strong. There is a name and date of 1901 penned with flourish on front end paper (see accompanying images). There is a dark "L" shaped stain on the front cover, seems like it might be ink, and there three spots where there was apparent moisture exposure to the cloth on the spine. No loose page, no folded or torn pages. The gilt at the text block head is wonderful - the picture(s) do not do it justice. It is very bright and shiny, not rubbed.

The beautiful illustrations are by Howard Chandler Christy, of which Wikipedia offers the following: [Christy] was an American artist and illustrator, famous for the "Christy Girl" – a colorful and illustrious successor to the "Gibson Girl" – who became the most popular portrait painter of the Jazz Age era. Christy painted such luminaries as Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt, and Presidents Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Harry Truman. Other famous people he painted include William Randolph Hearst, the Prince of Wales (Edward the VIII), Eddie Rickenbacker, Benito Mussolini, Prince Umberto and Amelia Earhart. From the 1920s until the 1940s, Christy was well known for capturing the likenesses of congressmen, senators, industrialists, movies stars, and socialites. Will ship to you carefully packaged and insured.