PRINTED 1803 LAURENCE STERNE 4 VOLS TRISTRAM SHANDY JOURNEY FRANCE & ITALY RARE

Description

Up for auction is a complete set of volumes of The Works Of Laurence Sterne that includes an interesting provenance. The full title of the volumes is : The Works Of Laurence Sterne In Four  Volumes : Containing The Life And Opinions Of Tristram Shandy, Gent; A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy : Sermons - Letters &c. With  A Life of The Author Written By Himself
. London Printed for J. Johnson : etc   1803.
This set belonged to
John D. Rockefeller's personal attorney
Virgil Peter Kline.
“For many years he was personal attorney to John D. Rockefeller and for thirty years was attorney for the Standard Oil Co. of Ohio. He was one of the founders of the Cleveland Bar Association.”
Each volume is signed by Kline on the front end paper in sepia toned ink.
In addition is a
curious cypher
( stamp) placed on the title page depicting a coat of arms. I am not sure if this is associated with Kline or more likely an earlier ownership. It also appears that bookplates were removed from all  four vols in the past. Needless to say the provenance to Kline is interesting on its own.
Condition : Good to Vg in my opinion Bound in full leather  marbled calf polished bindings with gold gilt titles. Spines show slight wear bumping around head heal also bumped corners. Internally expect very little foxing only on engraved title pages most pages exhibit age toning( browning ) Page 408 & 409 of the 1st vol has a curious alteration. On both sides of the sheet marbled end paper has been placed.
I am not positive, but perhaps someone in the past was offended by this particular engraving and covered it up with the marbled paper? Other than this alteration the volumes are in very good condition. As always any questions feel free to ask.