Forsög til en Veiledning i Anvendelsen af Perspectivlæren for unge Mal

1833. ECKERSBERG, C.W. Forsög til en Veiledning i Anvendelsen af Perspectivlæren for unge Malere. Title page and 12 pp., 4 etched plates. Folio, 335 x 255 mm., bound in contemporary grey wrappers. Copenhagen: Thieles Bogtrykkeri, 1833. WITH: Linearperspectiven, anvendt paa Malerkunsten, en Række af perspectiviske Studier af C. W. Eckersberg, med tilhörende Forklaringer. One page introduction by G.F. Ursin and 11 etched plates, numbered 1-10, with 9a and 9b, accompanied by 9 text leaves (the texts accompanying plates 7a and 8, and 9a and 9b are each on one page). Loose in the original wrappers in a new blue cloth folding box. Copenhagen: C. A. Reitzel, 1841. First edition of both works. Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg is considered to be the founding father of the nineteenth century Danish school of painting, and was the most influential teacher in the history of Danish art. The National Gallery in Washington mounted a major retrospective of his work in 2003. He was extremely interested in the subject of perspective, and while a professor at the Royal Danish Academy, he published these two books on the subject. The first: Forsög til en Veiledning i Anvendelsen af Perspectivlæren for unge Malere( Theory of Perspective for Young Painters), was published in 1833, and contains four plates which just demonstrate perspective. His second book Linearperspectiven was published in 1841 and contains exquisite etchings he made which he called "scenes from everyday life". The charm of these plates makes this one of the loveliest of all works on perspective. A facsimile was issued in 1977, which would also appear to be very scarce. Both works are rare with OCLC recording only 3 copies worldwide, two in Danish libraries and one set at the National Gallery. Forsög til en Veiledning with the spine rebacked, several professional paper repairs and some staining, a good sound copy. All the pages have been mounted on tissue in Linearperspectiven, still an appealing copy.