Scenery of Great Britain and Ireland in Aquatint and Lithography, 1770 - 1860, From the Library of J.R. Abbey, A Bibliographical Catalogue

Privately Printed At the Curwen Press, London, first edition, 1952. Limited edition of 500 copies. Cloth, original morocco spine-label, top edge gilt, large 4to,. colour frontispiece, xx, 399 pp, 34 plates, 54 text illustrations. 556 entries. This first edition - much superior to later reprints - of Abbey's classic bibliographical catalogue of "colour-plate" books on the scenery of Great Britain and Ireland, describes what one reviewer called a " a quite astonishingly rich collection of 556 books of English topographical illustration". From Abbey's preface: "I have, for over a quarter of a century, been collecting books on the Scenery of Great Britain and Ireland, illustrated with aquatints or lithographs published between the years 1775 and 1860. In this Bibliographical Catalogue, the word 'Scenery' is not strictly confined to landscape but includes architecture, and urban and social scenes. ... Many of the illustrations are of real beauty, and the fact that a large number are from books of the greatest rarity and therefore known to few in their original form gives added significance to those which are reproduced in this catalogue. It is perhaps true to say that the thirty-five plates are a microcosm of the English scene as well as showing something of the social life of the period. Sporting books have in general been omitted since the subject is so well treated in Mr. Schwerdt's catalogue ...The line-block reproductions are, incidentally, of considerable typographical importance and, in particular, some of the intricate borders reproduced show the ingenious and original work of the compositors...My original idea of recording all books of the period with illustrations printed in aquatint and lithograph printed in two colours has been extended to include examples in which special copies were coloured by hand after printing and, in the case of lithographs, I have included those coloured and even one or two outstanding books containing uncoloured lithograph illustrations....I have added a few notes at the end of the individual bibliographical entries where my knowledge has enabled me to do so." The artist John Piper enthused about the quality of this edition in a review in Signature: "This magnificent volume, its rich-looking and pleasurable self apart, is a necessary source of information...About the appearance, shape and text-printing of the book, no more can decently be said here than that Mr. Oliver Simon and the staff of The Curwen Press have evidently regarded it as a labour of love. The thirty-five collotype plates (including a Malton frontispiece in colour) are well chosen to represent the whole subject, and they have been sensitively printed at The Chiswick Press. The four indexes (Artists and Engravers; Authors; Printers, Publishers and Booksellers; Titles) are full and reliable, and the information about individual items is generous." London heads the list of popular subjects with fifty-one publications devoted to its scenes; other significant towns are Brighton (15), Bath (11), Hastings and St Leonards (11), Oxford (10), Cambridge (9), Windsor (8), York (8) and Sidmouth (5). Devonshire leads the counties with 18, followed by Yorkshire (16), the Isle of Wight (10) and Kent (8). The Lake District scores 11, but Derbyshire only four. Copy No 47. Covers a little rubbed, otherwise Near Very Good.