Artistas británicos

London: George Virtue, 1840. First edition. 2 volumes bound in extra gilt-ornamental red full leather with panels, raised bands, all edge gilting, gilt edge decorations, colored endpapers, ribbon markers. Bookplate of former U.S. Senator and Congressman William L. Scott (Virginia Republican) on pastedown in each volume. Published London: George Virtue, 1840. Large 4to., 8 3/4" x 11", 140pp.,+map+66 engravings+engraved title; state A of volume 2, with contents page numbered, 106pp.,+53 engravings+engraved title. Magnificent views of the Eastern United States before industrialization altered the landscape. Bartlett was a skilled landscape artist with a keen eye. He traveled extensively in the U.S. and Canada. Internally fine with no toning or foxing, plates nearly immaculate under tissue guards. Joints and corners rubbed, front joint of one volume starting. Very good, near fine internally. 1st. Hard. Very Good/No Jacket, As Issued. Illus. by William H. Bartlett. 4to.

London: Richard Griffin and Company, 1861. A lovely near-fine copy, the binding firm and bright. The contents with a previous owner's bookplate to the front pastedown and a little spotting to the endpapers, are otherwise clean and fresh throughout. A superb example of a very scarce title. 8vo (21.8 x 15.7 cm). Publisher's original green cloth with gilt titles and decoration to the upper board and spine, gilt to all page edges. Illustrated with 20 mounted albumen prints. FIRST EDITION of one of the earliest works of poetry to be illustrated by photography. The anthology combines extracts from authors including Keats, Clare, Wordsworth, Cowper, and Longfellow, with mounted photographs depicting idyllic scenes of contemporary rural life by the renowned stereographer William Morris Grundy (1806-1859), to create a harmonious interweaving of verse and imagery. Grundy was born in Birmingham, moving to Sutton Coldfield in 1850. Initially taking up photography as a hobby in 1855, he went on to achieve… Leer más

Alken, HenrySporting Discoveries, or the Miseries of Driving, in a series of seven plates, Being Hints to Young Sportsmen, By Ben Tally-Ho.
London 1817. Published by S. and J. Fuller. One, and perhaps the rarest, of the "Sporting Discoveries" series. Worldcat locates only 1 copy at Yale University. Seven colored aquatint plates, in very good condition, and are still sewn together. The top paper wrap is detached and in poor condition…the bottom wrap is missing. Plates are housed in an attractive cloth clam-shell case.

Collection of 190 fine hand-coloured stipple and line-engraved fashion plates from two decades of Ackermann's influential Repository of Arts.Plates date from January 1809 to December 1828 and include examples of outfits for all times of the day and social occasions: morning dress, walking or promenade dress, full evening dress, opera and ball gowns, carriage or travel clothes, dinner, garden, mourning and wedding dresses. Some of the clothes and hats were designed by famous London dressmaker Miss Pierpoint of 9 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, tailor and habit-maker Mr Barry of 55 New Bond Street, milliner and dressmaker Mrs Elizabeth Gill of 1 Cork Street, Burlington Gardens, Mrs Charlotte Bean of Albemarle Street, Mrs Griffin of Rider Street, St. James, and the notorious serial bankrupt Madame Ann Margaret Lanchester.The elegant ladies are shown dancing at balls, sitting on chaise longues, walking on beaches, reading love letters while strolling, playing the piano, looking at etchings, reading music… Leer más

London: Elliot Stock, 1898. A superb example of a vellucent binding. Cedric Chivers (1853 -1929) of Bath revived the technique of painting under vellum. Chivers would execute his paintings on paper which was covered with a translucent skin to form the binding, The covers were then lightly tooled with gold. It is rare to find such a finely preserved fine binding. Signed by Chivers. In 'Days and Hours in a Garden', 19th century Scotish artist and writier, Eleanor Vere Boyle (1825 -1916) takes us through the months of the year, the cherry blossoms, the rooks, the wild ivy etc. etc., reminiscent of a modest walled-garden 'Walden' by Thoreau. VIII MAY "There have been just one or two sweet days, when the white Cherry orchards shone softly against the sky of serenest blue; days when we did not but revel in the joyous present, forgetting quite that ever it could be that "rough winds do shake the darling buds of May" Octavo, vellucent binding, top edge gilt, frontispiece, small woodcut illustrations… Leer más

Very good copy of this classic of 18th century entomology, the first book on British beetles.

Complete with 42 finely hand-coloured copperplates of beetles, arrayed on the pages like specimens in a tray in a cabinet of curiosities.

The plates show some previously unpublished beetle and bug species, many in their tiny original size. The European stag beetle, minotaur, dung beetles, carrion, leaf and weevil beetles, click beetles, tumbling flower beetles, tiger beetles, water beetles, longhorns, carabids, ladybirds, and many others are shown in beautiful colors in 535 intricate illustrations.

The two plain numismatic plates show various gold medallions presented to Martyn from the Pope, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, King Ferdinand IV of Sicily, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, etc.

The English Entomologist, exhibiting all the Coleopterous Insects found in England, including upwards of 500 Different Species, arranged and named according to the Linnean System.

With an engraved title page, dedication… Leer más

Very good copy of the first edition of Richard Doyle's fantasy masterpiece.

Complete with16 colour woodblock plates printed by Edmund Evans, each with one to four designs, for a total of 36 charming illustrations. Fairies and elves with dragonfly wings flirt and tease, ride snails, fly in the air on butterfly-drawn leaf carriages, sleep under mushrooms, and joust riding on beetles.

"Looking within himself, Doyle found a fantastic but consistently imagined world in which fairies and elves live in the open air among birds, butterflies, snails, and beetles as large as themselves." (Gordon N. Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England 1790-1914)

Richard "Dickie" Doyle, 1824-1883, was an English artist and illustrator, son of Irish caricaturist John Doyle and uncle of the writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His began his career at Punch magazine, drawing the cover of the first issue and the masthead. After his success with the Brothers Grimm'sThe Fairy Ring in 1846, Doyle began to specialize in fantasy… Leer más

Very good copy of the rare first edition of John Hill's famous herbal with contemporary hand colour.
With engraved allegorical frontispiece showing Health receiving tribute from Asia, Africa and America by Samuel Wale engraved by Henry Roberts, engraved coat of arms of the Duke of Northumberland on dedication, and 75 engraved botanical plates all finely coloured in a contemporary 18th-century hand.
The 75 plates show approximately 1,500 species of plants, flowers, herbs, vegetables, fruits, ferns, mushrooms, both native to Britain and foreign, all in distinctive 18th-century colour.
Plates drawn and engraved by Boyce, C. Edwards & Matthew Darly, Henry Roberts, R. Benning, etc.
Title page printed in red and black with allegorical vignette of Aesculapius and Flora gathering from the Lap of Nature by Samuel Wale, engraved by Charles Grignion.
Sir John Hill (1714–1775) was an English composer, actor, author and botanist. He contributed to contemporary periodicals and engaged in literary battles with… Leer más

Very good copy of a classic of English 18th-century pomological literature.
With 79 beautiful fruit plates drawn by Batty Langley, and engraved on copper by Thomas Bowles, John van der Gucht, James Smith, John Carwitham, etc.
With 79 engraved plates, of which 11 are double (double plates with two Pl. numbers). The fruits include many varieties of apples, pears, plums, figs, cherries and strawberries as you would expect in a British orchard, but there are also many grape varietals (Muscadine, Frontinac, Lombard, Brick, Burgundy, Esperione, Claret, White Raisin, etc.) to remind the reader that wine grapes had been grown in England since the Roman era.
Batty Langley (1696-1751) was an English gardener from Twickenham, who later became a landscape gardener, Freemason, and finally architect promoting the Gothic Revival. Among his many books were An Accurate Description of Newgate (written while he was imprisoned there for debt) 1724, New Principles of Gardening 1728, Pomona 1729, Ancient Masonry 1733~,… Leer más

Very good copy of the first edition of "one of the finest works on fishes."
Complete with 120 beautiful copperplate engravings, drawn, engraved and coloured by the author. Donovan made his drawings from recently caught fish, most while they were still living. The text often describes the location the fish was caught: the ocean sunfish, Mola mola, was "an elegant little specimen caught near the coast of Brighton."
Depicts several endangered species such as the Atlantic bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, and Atlantic halibut, Hippoglossus hippoglossus, and the critically endangered European sturgeon, Acipenser sturio, and angelshark, Squatina squatina.
"The paint is laid on so thickly that is frequently impossible to see the engraved lines underneath. The already rich colour is heightened with burnished highlights, albumen overglaze and metallic paint."
Complete five volumes bound in two (1,2 and 3,4,5),
Edward Donovan (1768-1837) was an Anglo-Irish naturalist and the author and illustrator of a number of… Leer más

Very good copy of the first edition in five volumes (later expanded to 10) of this classic of British ornithology.
Complete with 124 beautiful copperplate engravings, drawn, engraved and coloured by the author.
British Birds was originally issued in 50 monthly parts with two plates each, and later published in five volumes in five successive years from 1794-1798. The illustrations were based on specimens in Donovan's personal collections of about 400 species. He paid extravagently for rare birds, buying specimens from collectors and friends, poultry markets, and other museums including John Latham's, Mr Green's of Westminster, and the Leverian.
Complete in five volumes bound in three (Vols. 1 and 2, Vols. 3 and 4, Vol. 5 bound with blank pages at end). The additional Volumes 6-10 were only added 20 years later.
"The paint is laid on so thickly that is frequently impossible to see the engraved lines underneath. The already rich colour is heightened with burnished highlights, albumen overglaze and… Leer más

Very good complete copy of this Victorian classic of medical botany
Botanical illustrations by Mary Ann Burnett, sister of botanist Gilbert Burnett
First edition in four volumes complete with all 260 botanical illustrations drawn and hand-coloured by the artist
Illustrations of useful flowers, fruits, vegetables, herbs, spices, medicinal plants, botanical dyes, mushrooms, etc.
Zincograph plates by Charles Chabot
One of only 316 copies printed for 262 subscribers
Mary Ann Burnett was the sister of Gilbert Burnett, Professor of Botany at King's College London and the Apothecaries' Society, Chelsea. Mary was an artist and worked as "a colourer of drawings and maps." Her brother's sudden death at age 35 in 1835 left her (and her mother) in "utter destitution." In 1836, the London Medical and Surgical Journal launched an appeal on their behalf with donations accepted at several banks and other locations in London.
Partly to stave off destitution, Mary Ann edited the text of her brother's magnum opus… Leer más

Rare complete set of 26 volumes of this zoological masterpiece
24 volumes bound in 12 of the Naturalist's Miscellany and 2 volumes bound in 1 of The Zoological Miscellany by William Elford Leach (the continuation published after George Shaw's death with illustrations by Richard Nodder)
With all 1,185 engraved plates in superb hand-colour
Engraved dedication leaf to Queen Charlotte, 1,065 hand-coloured engraved plates in the Naturalist's Miscellany, and 120 hand-coloured engraved plates in The Zoological MiscellanyA very good copy of this "remarkable serial" (Wood), a monumental work on natural history. Devoted to zoological subjects, and including a high proportion of birds, but also mammals, marine creatures, amphibia, reptiles, shells and insects; each subject is described in both Latin and English, and illustrated by a plate, the majority by George Shaw, Frederick Polydore Nodder and his son Richard Nodder.
Complete sets are very rare, since the work was published in 287 monthly parts over some 24… Leer más

A very good copy of Volumes I and 2 (of 3) of Hooker's seminal work
Complete with 163 fine hand-coloured engraved plates after drawings by William Jackson Hooker, Robert Kaye Greville, Lansdown Guilding, John Lindley, and Archibald Menzies, all engraved by J. Swan.
With over 30 orchids, as well as alstroemeria, banksia, trumpet pitcher, shaving brush tree, cactus, lily, canna, spurge, honeysuckle, begonia, osbeckia, and a dozen ferns and mosses. (Hooker would later specialize in orchids and ferns.)
Complete with all 163 plates, many folding, most with tissue guards.
First and only edition of one of Hooker's rarest and most beautifully illustrated works, including many specimens from Australia, the Americas and the West Indies.
"The Exotic Flora of Dr Hooker is like that of all the Botanical publications of this indefatigable author, excellent; and it assumes an appearance of finish and perfection to which neither the Botanical Magazine nor Botanical Register can externally lay claim." Loudon
"This… Leer más

Hammersmith: Printed by William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, circa 1893.. KELMSCOTT BIFOLIUM circa 1893 (i.e. pair of conjugate leaves). Proof sheet of the opening page from the KELMSCOTT CHAUCER. This proof page was typeset in 1893 in a very small number and distributed to William Morris's friends. It contains a variant type setting of the text, eventually rejected by Morris. Bifolium pages approximately 415 x 285 mm, 16¼ x 11¼ inches, [1]-2 and [15]-[16] comprising 2 illustrated pages and 2 text pages, printed in Chaucer type with side-notes in red, 2 wood-engraved illustrations designed by Edward Burne-Jones, wood-engraved borders and one very large initial plus 5 large and 7 smaller initials by William Morris, folio Proof of one of the most famous pages in printing history, with variations in the typesetting from the final version. A shallow crease due to folding the sheets to house in a another Kelmscott book, a little pale foxing, mostly to margins, edges slightly dusty, otherwise very good… Leer más