3 volumes. xv, [1] blank, [5] list of subscribers, [1] blank, [4], 436; [iv], (437)-814; [ii], (815)-1090, xxx, [2] pp. 44 full page plates including engravings and lithographs, many of which are printed on India paper and mounted to heavier stock; numerous smaller mounted engravings on India paper and woodcuts in text. 10½x7¼, early full straight-grain morocco, gilt ruled borders, spines gilt, wide raised bands, gilt dentelles, all edges gilt. Volumes 1 and 3 rebacked, original spine leather laid down. First Edition, Large Paper Issue.

One of only 100 large paper sets. Dibdin's major work on English libraries and book collecting. "In 1818 Dibdin spent some time in France and Germany, and in his ‘Bibliographical, Antiquarian, and Picturesque Tour,’ a very costly work from its engravings, which appeared in 1821, he gives an amusing account of his travels, with descriptions of the contents of several of the chief libraries of Europe... in 1838 his ‘Bibliographical, Antiquarian, and Picturesque Tour in the Northern Counties of England and Scotland,’ amusing, as all his books are" (DNB).