Engraved frontispiece and title page, for William James Brown, Strand, London. 238 printed pages. The same imprint was also published in 1853. 67 x 90 mm. Original purple cloth with elaborately embossed borders on covers. Upper cover with central hexagonal form gilt cartouche with title reverse blocked. Covers very lightly rubbed. Not in Bondy, Spielmann, nor Welsh. This imprint not located in WorldCat. WorldCat locates no copies of this edition worldwide.
A highly entertaining book of what to say when a group of people are about to raise their glasses and usually drink alcohol together, often to mark a special occasion.
The chapters include: Loyal and Patriotic, Naval and Military, Masonic, Bacchanalian, Amatory, Sporting, Political, Sentimental, Flash (a "flash-house" in the Victorian era was a public house or inn that served as a center for criminal activity, often combining a pub with a brothel or other illicit services), and an extensive Miscellaneous section (such as toasts for Bibliomaniacs, Musicians, Surgeons, Waiters, Glaziers, Greengrocers, Painters, Carpenters, Drapers, Hatters, Tailors, Bakers, Lawyers, Gardeners,, Teachers, and so on).
One of the more niche and exceptional examples are ten Bibliomania Toasts drunken by the Roxburgh Club:
1. The immortal memory of Christopher Valdarfer, printer of the Boccaccio of 1471.
2, The memory of William Caxton, founder of the British Press.
3. The memory of Wynkyn de Worde, Pynson and Notary, the successors of Caxton.
4. The memory of John, duke of Roxburgh.
5. The memory of Lady Juliana Barnes and the St. Albans' Press.
6. The memory of Gutenburg, Pust, and Schirffer, fathers of the art of printing.
7. The Aldine family at Venice.
8. The Giunti family at Florence.
8. The prosperity of the Roxburgh Club: and in all cases the cause of Bibliomania all over
the world.
10. The Society of the Bibliophiles Francais.