76
272 271
271. smitH, sir Cecil H[arcourt-]. collection of J. Pierpont Morgan. Bronzes, antique greek, roman, etc. including some antique objects in gold and silver. Paris, Libraire Centrale Des Beaux Arts, 1913.
£1,950
Folio. (500 x 385 mm). original gilt ruled chocolate half morocco over French shell marbled paper covered boards, the spine divided into six compartments with raised bands gilt, the second and third compartments gilt-titled, the remainder decorated with a gilt centre tooled floral device set within a border comprised of four gilt rules, top edges gilt, the remainder uncut, marbled endpapers; half-title, title, pp. xvi (introduction), 55, [1], + 66 colour heliogravure plates printed on thin paper laid to panelled mounts, each with a titled guard, 38 colour heliogravure illustrations printed on thin paper and laid into the text; a bright, fresh copy.
one of a likely limitation of 150 copies. handsome catalogue of that part of the Pierpont Morgan collection concerned with antique bronzes, the pieces selected and described by the then director of the Victoria and albert Museum, sir cecil harcourt-smith (1859-1944), with assistance from leonard W. King and herbert a. greuber of the British Museum. in all there are ninety-one entries covering greek and roman bronzes, alongside one assyrian, and a handful of graeco-egyptian or egyptian examples, with a separate section of twenty entries covering antique silver and gold, including twelve items from the lapethos treasure excavated in northern cyprus in 1902. each example has a full description and an illustration, the more important examples being illustrated with a full-page heliogravure plate.
Both Wilhelm Bode’s two-volume compilation of Morgan’s collection of renaissance bronzes issued three years earlier, and de ricci’s catalogue of Morgan’s renaissance tapestries published in the same year as the present work are in a similar format and were explicitly limited to 150 copies, it therefore seems likely that antique Bronzes was subject to a similar limitation although this is not stated anywhere within the volume.
272. sniCKet, lemony (author). [a series of unfortunate events; Books 1-13]. London; Egmont . 2001-2006.
£325
8vo. 13 volumes; original brightly coloured pictorial boards; volumes 5, 6 and 7 with their original wrap-around advertising bands as issued, volume 8 complete with the reversible dustwrapper, being the sole volume issued in a dustwrapper; illustrated throughout in black-and-white; mint copies of the complete set.
First english editions of this extraordinary epic which was first issued in the u.s. by harpercollins. the titles in this series are: The Bad Beginning; The Reptile Room; The Wide Window; The Miserable Mill; The Austere Academy; The Ersatz Elevator; The Vile Village; The Hostile Hospital; The Carnivorous Carnival; The Slippery Slope; The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril and The End.
273. soCiety oF antiQUaries. toPHam, John; John Carter; sir Henry enGleField; Joseph WindHam. some account of the collegiate chapel of st. stephen, Westminster; some account of the cathedral church of exeter; some account of the abbey church of Bath; some account of the cathedral church of Durham; some account of the cathedral church of gloucester; some account of the abbey church of st. alban. The Society of Antiquaries, [1795]; [1797]; [1798]; 1810; 1809; 1813.
£3,000
elephant folio (642 x 475 mm). six works in two vols; nineteenth century half calf over paper covered boards, the spines ruled and lettered in gilt; pp. 9, [i] + 28 engraved plates, [ii], 22 + 10 engraved plates, 8 + 10 engraved plates; 14 + 11 engraved plates, 12 + 17 engraved plates, [ii], 20, 7, [i] + 19 engraved plates; the extremites of the bindings lightly worn; a light narrow waterstain to the upper edges, very light spotting to the margins of the plates, otherwise a bright, clean copy.
although publication ceased after just six volumes, nevertheless the society of antiquaries’ cathedral series set a new benchmark for archeological and architectural accuracy. this was due in large part to the careful drawings of John carter and their realisation in print via the engravings of James Basire. the oDnB notes that, ‘it was in the pages of the Builder’s Magazine (1774–8), as a draughtsman and writer, that carter first established himself as a zealous admirer of gothic. But it was as one of the draughtsmen for the society of antiquaries’ series Vetusta monumenta that carter first emerged as a notable figure: his drawings, published in 1789 and 1796, set new standards in recording gothic detail. soon afterwards he became involved in a programme which established for the first time the archaeological status of gothic as fully comparable to the antique: the cathedrals series published by the society of antiquaries. carter was responsible in particular for the measured plans, elevations, sections, and details of st stephen’s chapel, Westminster (1795), exeter cathedral (1797), Bath abbey (1798), Durham cathedral (1801), gloucester cathedral (1809), and st albans abbey (1813). unique in their time for precision and scholarship, these volumes were designed ‘not alone to please the eye … but to give information and instruction to the rising generation of antiquaries and architectural Professors’ (g[entleman’s] M[agazine], 1st ser., 73/1, 1803, 106–7). For that pioneering aim, at least, the series deserves to stand as carter’s monument.’
of particular value are the fourteen
additional
engravings, after drawings by richard smirke, recording details of the painted walls of st. stephen’s
chapel,
Westminster, destroyed by fire in 1834.
J. Mordaunt Crook, ‘Carter, John (1748– 1817)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008
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