CHOICE ETCHINGS By Henry Farrer, William E. Marshall, James D. Smillie, I. M. Gaugengigl; Peter Moran, Otto H. Bacher, Thomas Moran, C.F. Kimball, Edmund H. Garret, Stephen J. Ferris, Paul Lerat, F. S. Church, Stephen Parrish, [and] Anna Lea Merritt

London: Alexander Strahan, 1887. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. First Edition. Folio - (44 x 32 cm). A superb collection of twenty original etchings. A very rare book in this format - WorldCat records just three copies in world libraries - two in London libraries and one in the US. [See bibliographical note at end for further details.] 20 unnumbered leaves of original etched plates, each signed in the plate, tipped onto thick paper leaves and each with its own window mount overlaying the mount. Title page, list of etchings and separate letterpress leaf printed in black and red for each plate. Original olive green cloth with bevelled edges to the boards, title to the front board and spine, a little general wear, cloth rubbed to spine ends and corners, small nick to the centre of the spine, light stain to front board. Original gold-patterned end papers, contents very good, a little spotting to the first and last few letterpress pages; plates very good and clean. Plates as follows: - November by Stephen Parrish -- Ophelia by Anna Lea Merritt -- New York Bay by Henry Farrer -- A Philadelphia beauty by Stephen J. Ferris, after Gilbert Stuart -- The Saco River valley by W. Wellstood, after George Inness -- The mermaid by F.S. Church -- Noonday rest by Peter Moran -- Near Mattakeese by Edmund H. Garrett -- The Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Mass. by Edmund H. Garrett -- The king's Jester by Paul Lerat, after F.B. Mayer -- Old house at Stroudwater, Me. by C.F. Kimball -- Morning by Thomas Moran -- A Burro Train in New Mexico by Peter Moran -- Mischief by I.M. Gaugengigl -- The prophet Elijah by Kimberly, after Washington Allston -- On the Housatonic by Kruseman Van Elten -- Schwabelweiss by Otto H. Bacher -- Old cedars on the coast of Maine by James D. Smillie -- Landscape with sheep by Dames D. Smillie, from Charles E´mile Jacque. A very good copy of this rare collection of original etchings. [Bibliographical note. This appears to be essentially the same book and collection of plates as "TWENTY AMERICAN ETCHINGS Original and Reproductive" published by Nims and Knight, Troy, NY also in 1887, this Strahan edition presumably being produced for the British market. To confuse matters further the previous year i.e.in 1886 a book of very similar title 'American Etchings: A Collection of Twenty Original Etchings' also with text by Koehler was published in Boston: by Estes and Lauriat and University Press: John Wilson and Son, Cambridge. However this earlier collection had a completely different suite of etchings by different artists.].