George Borrow Works Norwich Edition 16 Volumes 1923-24 Limited Set

The Works of George Borrow Edited, With Much Hitherto Unpublished Manuscript, By Clement Shorter, Norwich Edition, Limited #468/775, 16 Vol. 1923-24. Borrow, George. London, New York: Constable & Co., Gabriel Wells.

George Borrow (1803–1881) was an English writer, linguist, traveler, and keen observer of people living beyond the usual boundaries of respectable Victorian society. He became especially known for his encounters with Romani communities, his fascination with languages and dialects, and his extensive travels through Britain and continental Europe. His books combine autobiography, travel writing, adventure, folklore, social observation, and linguistic study, often preserving conversations, customs, songs, and ways of life that were seldom treated seriously by mainstream writers of his period.

Across these sixteen volumes, Borrow travels through Spain distributing Protestant Bibles, wanders through Wales recording its landscape, language, and people, recounts his own unconventional youth and travels in Lavengro and The Romany Rye, and documents Romani language and culture in The Zincali and Romano Lavo-Lil. The result is less a conventional literary collection than a broad portrait of nineteenth-century life seen from the road, particularly among travelers, laborers, religious outsiders, storytellers, and Romani communities. Borrow’s unusual mixture of scholarship and firsthand experience makes the set particularly appealing to collectors interested in travel, folklore, linguistics, Romani studies, British cultural history, and Victorian literature.

8vo.(5.75" x 9") 16 volumes complete. Signed Binding by Stikeman & Co. Limited Norwich Edition #468/775. Half brown leather with generous corners, bright gilt rule to all leather edges, over brown cloth boards. Spine with five gilt decorated raised bands, gilt lttering to second and third compartments, fancy gilt rule frames to all other compartments, gilt "Norwich Edition" to foot. Top edge gilt, others deckled, marbled endpapers. Some pages uncut. Virtually no edgewear other than light rubbing or bumping of corner tips. Title pages in red and black ink. A beautiful set of books, great shelf appeal. The set comprises: The Bible in Spain, Vol. I: Or, The Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula; The Bible in Spain, Vol. II: Or, The Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula; Lavengro, Vol. I: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest; Lavengro, Vol. II: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest; The Romany Rye, Vol. I; The Romany Rye, Vol. II; Songs, Poems & Ballads, Vol. I; Songs, Poems & Ballads, Vol. II; Songs, Poems & Ballads, Vol. III; The Zincali: An Account of the Gypsies of Spain; Romano Lavo-Lil: Word-Book of the Romany; or, English Gypsy Language; Wild Wales, Vol. I: Its People, Language and Scenery; Wild Wales, Vol. II: Its People, Language and Scenery; Wild Wales, Vol. III: Its People, Language and Scenery; Miscellanies, Vol. I; Miscellanies, Vol. II.