Hardback. Idylls of the King is a first edition - 1859. Half-leather bindings in green morocco. Sold as a collection as bindings from the two publishers are very similar including the design of gilt decorations to the spine, the dotted border to the spine ends and the double gilt ruling to the edges bordered by cloth to the boards. Idylls of the king is strangely paginated with the individual books having different pagination and the story of ‘Balin and Balan’ and the brief final section ‘To the Queen’ are not present. Green morocco with raised bands to spine , gilt titles to spine, decorative gilt to remaining compartments, green cloth to boards and morocco to corners. Gilt to all edges. the Lover’s Tale which was withdrawn from publication by Tennyson soon after its initial publication was re-issued in 1879 due to the number of pirated copies available. This is the first printing of this new edition. It has been bound without ‘The Golden Supper’ mentioned in the preface. Enoch Arden - 1865- is also a very early printing and a possible first edition. Slight scuffing to spine edges and raised bands with more wear to the corners. Hint of sunning to spines. Gilt is bright. One page of Idylls has some loss to the margin and one, p. 196 in Elaine, has a dotted pen line to the margin else very clean and neat, square, tight copies. We have more Tennyson volumes in very similar bindings that would make an attractive collection.