The Cooper Vignettes. From drawings by F.O.C. Darley. India proofs before letters, by Darley, Felix Octavius Carr (artist) and James Fenimore Cooper (author), hardcover (very good condition)
 
This first edition was published by James G. Gregory, New York, in 1862.  This book is a collection of 64 engravings by F.O.C. Darley, commissioned by the publishers as illustrations for the works of James Fenimore Cooper. Each illustration is accompanied by an explanatory excerpt from Cooper's writing. Illustrations are on thick paper proceeded by a blank page. The interior is very clean other than the imprint of leaves on three blank pages where someone had pressed leaves. This is an oversize leather bound book with marbled endpapers.  The name "Frances Amelia Hunter" and "June 5th 1866" are engraved in gilt on the cover. All edges are gilt as is the title in one of the five raised bands on the spine. Rubbing around edges of cover and along spine. Overall, the book is in very good condition other than an approximately 3 inch crack along the bottom of the joint on the back cover, but it is not affecting the tightness of the pages. Top of the front spine also has suggestion of dryness that could lead to a crack.