Life in England in aquatint and lithography, 1770-1860;: Architecture, drawing books art collections, magazines, navy and army, panoramas, etc., from ... of J. R. Abbey; a bibliographical catalogue

by John Roland Abbey

First Edition. Hardcover. Folio, original gray cloth, red morocco spine label decorated and lettered in gilt. Very Fine. Profusely illustrated. First edition. Number 53 of 400 copies. There were four volumes published altogether, each one stands alone, and deals with different subjects. The books describe the collection of illustrated books collected by Major J. R. Abbey, one of the " original"collectors of British "color-plate" books. That collection, acquired en masse by Paul Mellon in the 1950s, includes over 2,000 volumes describing life in Britain, local customs, scenes of the English countryside, and tours during the period 1770-1860. The often resplendant illustrations in these books are the work of England's finest landscape artists, including Paul Sandby, David Cox, John Constable, J. M. W. Turner, Samuel Prout, and the Daniell family, among others. Concurrently, they form an understandable picture of local topography, architecture, and the views encountered by English travelers on the " MajorTours" in Europe and on more exotic journeys to the South Seas, Africa, and India. A very fine copy, internally fresh and without paper defects and off setting as is common in this book. "Life in England is the second of the proposed series of four volumes cataloguing books published in England between 1770 and 1860 and illustrated with aquatints and coloured or tinted lithographs which have scenic backgrounds The first volume was entitled Scenery of Great Britain and Ireland and dealt with landscape and architecture from a topographical standpoint, while Life in England comprises the range of subjects outlined later in this introduction. The first collations for this book were compiled by Mr. G. Bates; the text was finally edited for printing by Mr. E. Jutro, who has also compiled the indexes. This volume will perhaps have added interest in that the books and panoramas listed are known, in the main, only to booksellers and a few collectors" (Preface, p. Xv).

427 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991