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ETCHING AND ETCHERS.
(London: Macmillan & Co., 1868). 262 x 175 mm. (10 3/8 x 6 7/8"). xxvi, [2], 354 pp. FIRST EDITION.
EXTREMELY ATTRACTIVE CHOCOLATE BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, INTRICATELY GILT, BY ZAEHNSDORF (stamp-signed on front turn-in), covers framed in gilt, with delicate pointillé cornerpieces featuring a spray of flowers, raised bands, spines densely gilt in the pointillé style of Bozerian, with stems of flowers radiating from a central circle, gilt titling, turn-ins with drawer-handle frame accented with flowers at corners, all edges gilt. With 35 reproductions of etchings by various artists, as called for, five of these double-page, one folding. Front pastedown with armorial bookplate of Newton Hall, Cambridge. Hind, "A History of Engraving & Etching," p. 399; Benezit VI, 1084. ◆Spine evenly sunned to a pleasing hazel brown (though fading difficult to judge because of all the gilt), covers with half a dozen faint or shallow scratches as well as slight soiling, minor foxing on endpapers, otherwise a very fine copy of a beautifully bound book--entirely clean and fresh internally, in a binding without the usual wear to joints and extremities.
This work offers an in-depth review of the art of etching, describing the various techniques involved, discussing connoisseurship, and surveying some of the most renowned practitioners of the artform. The artists profiled here include many contemporary working artists as well as historically established masters, among them Turner, David Roberts, Ruskin, Whistler, Cruikshank, Daubigny, Durer, Rembrandt, and Goya. The plates include examples mainly from the English, French, and Dutch schools--including, notably, an etching printed from an original copper plate by Rembrandt. Philip Gilbert Hamerton (1834-94) was an artist and critic who worked for a number of periodicals, including the "Fine Arts Quarterly Review," "Macmillan's" magazine, "Atlantic Monthly," and the "Saturday Review" (succeeding Francis Turner Palgrave). Hamerton started his own publication, "The Portfolio," in 1869, which DNB calls "an innovative publication in terms of the many different forms of reproduction it employed, including etching on India paper and autotype photography." Through this publication, "Hamerton was thus responsible for an important diffusion of graphic art forms in England during the last three decades of the nineteenth century." The present copy is especially attractive in its lovely Zaehnsdorf binding, and makes an excellent impression on the shelf. (ST17683)
Price: $3,500.00