Katharine Prescott Wormeley was born in Ipswich, Suffolk in 1830. Her mother Caroline was the daughter of an East India merchant from Boston and her father Ralph, a sixth-generation Virginian, spent his childhood in England eventually becoming a British subject and retiring as a rear admiral in the Royal Navy. Katharine spent most of her childhood in Europe moving in 1848 to the United States where she died in 1908. Katharine was one of the best-known translators of her time, having translated from the French language the complete works of Honoré de Balzac 40 vols. 1883-97 for American readers. Uniformly bound in crushed half morocco with marbled boards and end papers. Gilt decorated spines with raised bands, top edges gilt, rough cut fore edges, tissue guarded colour frontispieces and photogravure illustrated plates. Each volume numbered 1065 from The Tour de France Edition limited of 1250. All volumes published 1902 by Hardy, Pratt & Company of Boston, USA. Height 21.5cms, depth 14.8cms and a total combined shelf coverage of some 42cms. Internally some splits contained to the inner hinges, tightly bound and generally clean and bright save for light age toning to the extremities. Partial interior damp staining to volume I of the Memoirs of Marquis D’Argenson.
