Description

A highly collectible and richly illustrated first volume of Chambers’s Book of Days, published in 1864 by W. & R. Chambers of London and Edinburgh. This substantial Victorian reference work is subtitled “A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the Calendar”, and offers a fascinating day-by-day almanac filled with historical curiosities, folklore, notable anniversaries, biographies, literature, and cultural oddities.

Edited by Robert Chambers, the work was published in two volumes, of which this is Volume I. It includes numerous engravings, elaborate decorative borders, and beautifully typeset pages, all housed in a marbled hardback binding with leather spine and corners.

The opening section, “Time and Its Natural Measurers,” is just the beginning of an engrossing exploration into Victorian thought, beliefs, and celebrations surrounding each calendar day of the year. This is more than a book—it is a window into the intellectual and social fabric of 19th-century Britain.