Cambridge Prize Poems 1859

This is an unpretentious volume, typical for its time.

A Complete Collection of the English Poems which have obtained the chancellor's gold medal in the University of Cambridge. vol 1.Cambridge : Macmillan, 1859. The British Library copy is at Shelfmark(s): Document Supply W83/2867. 

My copy is bound in deep mauve(?) bead-grain cloth, with identical strapwork blocking in blind to both covers. The spine design is signed by John Leighton. This shows profuse plant decoration blocked in gold down the spine, within rectangles. The title: "Cambridge Prize Poems" is blocked in gold near the head. 

The volume is distinctive, because it is one of very few, so far found, that Leighton executed for a Macmillan publication. The frontispiece shows the front and read of the Chancellor's Gold Medal [i. e. the head of Prince Albert]