Vizetelly was, in addition to being a well-known connoisseur of wines, an engraver and publisher who eventually came to grief over his publication of Zola’s works — not to mention his having been a co-author of the fictitious Four Months Among the Goldfinders in Alta California, which helped jump-start the California gold rush.

Binding: Publisher’s grape-colored cloth, front cover and spine stamped in black and gilt; front cover with gilt-stamped vignette of a putto stomping grapes.

•  NSTC 0783299; not in Cagle, not in George, Speise und Trank. On Vizetelly, see: The Dictionary of National Biography. Bound as above, cloth rubbed over corners and spine extremities; a bit of wrinkling over back cover, with spine gently sunned and edges darkened. Back hinge cracked and front hinge starting (inside), with covers soundly holding but sewing just starting to loosen in some signatures. Endpapers and some advertisements showing light age-toning and offsetting, with pages clean save for one instance of pencilled bracketing. Utterly engaging.