Famous Men of Britain G.W. Contrell circa 1870

Presented today we have a beautifully bound copy of Famous Men of Britain published circa 1870 by the G.W. Contrell Publishers out of Boston MA. 
While this  series had been in print since the early 1800s. This version is a later US version. 
With gorgeous blue color, even the later less embellished design still has a captivating allure
  Below is an excerpt about the publisher taken from https://www.19thcenturyjuvenileseries.com/publishers/cottrell.html with all credit for thr below information going to their site. 
G.W. Cottrell & Co. was a book publishing firm with Thos. W. Strong and G. W. Cottrell as partners. It was established in 1848. The partnership between G. W. Cottrell and Thos. W. Strong was dissolved in June, 1855. (During this seven year span T. W. Strong also published on it own New York imprint.)
In 1848 and shortly thereafter a number of series were co-published by G. W. Cottrell & Co. and T. W. Strong. It is not definitively known whether these sets were also printed with only one of these company's imprints on the title page.
After 1855 the company was known as G. W. Cottrell.
J. S. Locke & Co. succeeded Cottrell in 1870.
Cottrell died in Boston in 1895.
Company addresses
1848-1852 64 Cornhill
1853-1867 36 Cornhill
1868-1870 34 & 36 Cornhill
Several miniature book libraries that G. W. Cottrell published are not included here. The titles for the most part were intended for adult readers.
Last Revision: April 13, 2022