Forty Years' Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire, J.R. Mortimer, 1905

This monumental volume is the lifelong work of John Robert Mortimer, an East Yorkshire corn merchant and self-taught archaeologist whose pioneering excavations on the Yorkshire Wolds between the 1860s and 1890s helped lay the foundations of British prehistoric archaeology. The book documents in detail Mortimer's investigations of over 300 burial mounds, revealing insights into Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, and early Anglo-Saxon funerary practices.

Lavishly produced and generously illustrated with over 1,000 drawings by his daughter, Agnes Mortimer, the work provides careful records of mound structures, grave goods, human remains, and field methods—many of which were well ahead of their time. It also includes Mortimer’s notes on Romano-British sites, ancient linear earthworks, and other features of the Yorkshire landscape.

This 1905 first edition is now considered a cornerstone of British archaeological literature. The volume is a substantial tome and was issued in a limited print run, although quantity is not stated.

This copy bears the bookplate of David W. Phillipson, Emeritus Professor of African Archaeology at the University of Cambridge and former curator at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Phillipson is best known for his fieldwork in Ethiopia and eastern Africa, but he also maintained a deep interest in the roots of archaeological method, particularly early British fieldwork.

Forty Years' Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire. Including Romano-British Discoveries, and a Description of the Ancient Entrenchments on a Section of the Yorkshire Wolds, by J.R. Mortimer. With over 1000 Illustrations from Drawings by Agnes Mortimer.

Published by A. Brown & Sons, Limited, London, and at Hull, and York, 1905. First edition.

A very good hardback example in the original dark green publisher’s cloth, with black morocco leather spine with gilt titles. Binding shows light rubbing and some wear to head and tail of spine, with minor bumping to corners. Internally sound and collated complete, with all plates, illustrations, and fold-outs present, including the bound in errata slip. Text block is bright and clean throughout with minor age-toning to extremities. With additional owner's signature to free blank endpaper.

Top edge of text block is gilt, some light spotting to vertical edge, and some usage marks to lower edge. An impressive volume.

Text in English.

Guarded Colour Frontispiece + lxxxvi + 452pp + 2 fold-outs + CXXV Plates + (4) Publisher's list.

Weight approximately 3.36kg (unpacked).

Dimensions: approximately 302mm high x 220mm wide x 58mm deep (in slipcase).