Two richly decorated Leiden dissertation bindings and a Dutch classicist binding.

Very well preserved.

1. Richly gold-tooled burgundy leather, covers with two rectangular frames of large gilt ornamental borders, the central frame with gilt floral corner pieces surrounding inlaid olive green leather with a large central ornament, gold-decorated spine with 5 raised bands, gilt decorated border sides, a.e.g., decorative ("dominoté") endpapers (corners sl. rubbed or bumped). This binding is made by the Leiden First Dissertation Bindery (1766 - ca. 1800?), the most important 18th-c. Leiden luxury bindery. Contents: initial (2) and final (1) leaves only of Willem Brouwer Bosch - Dissertatio medica inauguralis de monstris [...]. Leiden, A.&J. Honkoop, 1780. Lge 4to. The binding is filled up with 24 ff. of music paper (12 blank 5-line staves). Was this a binder’s or bookseller’s show binding? Ref. Storm van Leeuwen (Dutch decorated bookbinding in the Eighteenth Century), IIA: 3.3.11. Prov. Sm. circular stamp "M".
2. Richly gold-tooled raspberry red morocco, covers with rectangular ornamental border frame and a smaller rectangular frame with a thin gilt border and fan-shaped corner pieces, gilt flat spine, gilt border sides, a.e.g., gilt inside dentelles, lilac endpapers (very sl. rubbed, offsetting from covers on endpapers). Contents: a large paper copy of Gerardus Joannes de Martini - Disputatio literaria inauguralis de L. Annaeo Cornuto philosopho stoico [...]. Leiden, H.W. Hazenberg jr., 1825. 4to: [6]-106-[1-1 bl.] pp. Mint copy.
3. Vergilius Maro, Publius - Opera. Vol. I [ed. Henry Justice]. [The Hague, s. n., 1757]. 8vo: [18]-14-[4]-139-[1 bl.] pp. Early 19th-c. gold-tooled burgundy morocco, on covers 2 frames with gilt ornamental borders, central frame in green leather with classicist ornaments, richly gilt spine with 5 raised bands with green morocco label, gilt sides, a.e.g., gilt inside border, decorative endpapers (corners sl. bumped). Vol. 1 of an ed. of Virgil, which eventually filled 5 volumes, engraved throughout by a Venetian named Pitteri in imitation of Pine’s Horace. Henry Justice (1697-1763) was a Cambridge scholar, who fled to the Netherlands after his conviction of stealing books from the university’s libraries. Ref. STCN. - Kallendorf (Virgil) LW1757-1765. - Ph. Gaskell, "Henry Justice, Cambridge book thief" in Transactions Cambr. Bibl. Soc., (1952), pp. 348-357.