An Extremely Pretty and Especially Fine Decorative Set Of Walpoles' "Artists," Very Possibly Bound by Charles Lewis

ANECDOTES OF PAINTING IN ENGLAND; WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PRINCIPAL ARTISTS; AND INCIDENTAL NOTES ON OTHER ARTS; COLLECTED BY THE LATE MR. GEORGE VERTUE. [with] CATALOGUE OF ENGRAVERS.

(BINDINGS - DECORATIVE SETS). WALPOLE, HORACE.

(London: Printed at the Shakspeare Press, by W. Nicol, for John Major, Fleet-Street, 1826-28). 247 x 152 mm. (9 3/4 x 6"). Five volumes. With "considerable additions" by the Rev. James Dallaway.

LOVELY CONTEMPORARY MAROON STRAIGHT-GRAIN MOROCCO, GILT, LIKELY BY CHARLES LEWIS (note on front flyleaf attributing binding to him), covers with frame formed by four strapwork compartments richly tooled with volutes, acanthus leaves, flowers, and acorns, raised bands, spines gilt in compartments with leafy curling tools, gilt lettering, very broad turn-ins framed by multiple gilt rules and laurel wreath tools, glossy crimson endpapers, leather hinges, all edges gilt. WITH 164 ILLUSTRATIONS: 80 engraved plates printed on India paper and mounted on heavy stock, plus 84 in-text woodcuts as called for, all but two plates with tissue guards. A Large Paper Copy. Spine evenly sunned to a reddish brown, just the slightest hint of wear to corners, but the original bindings very lustrous and virtually unworn. The majority of the tissue guards foxed (indicating they've done their job), just a handful of plates and adjacent pages affected, otherwise exceptionally fresh, clean, and bright internally, with notably ample margins. A VERY PRETTY SET IN ESPECIALLY FINE CONDITION.

First printed between 1762 and 1771 at Walpole's Strawberry Hill private press, this is a beautifully bound set of a most useful guide to numerous English and immigrant artists, with engraved portraits of many of those discussed. Son of Prime Minister Robert Walpole, Horace (1717-97) had an unimpressive academic career at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, but thanks to his father's connections, he was granted three sinecures that, in DNB's words, left him "a young man of means and no duties." This financial security—bolstered by a goodly fortune from his father—allowed him to devote his considerable energies to arts, letters, and architecture. Much engaged in writing and in the transformation of his Gothic revival house, Strawberry Hill, he combined these passions in 1757 by establishing a printing press there. Of the present work, DNB observes, "It had something in common with his 'Royal and Noble Authors,' offering list and commentary in accessible and amusing dress. But it was to live longer, mainly because it was based on materials which Walpole had purchased from the widow of the engraver George Vertue in 1758. He had known Vertue himself since 1743 and perhaps owed something of his evolving interest in English portraiture to [Vertue's] knowledgeable encouragement. The 'forty volumes of his MS. Collection relating to English painters, sculptors, gravers, and architects' amply justified Walpole's claim that they contained 'an infinite quantity of new and curious things'. Later in life he described the 'Anecdotes" as 'the only thing I ever published of any use'" (Walpole, Corr., 33.574). The bindings here have no signature or ticket, but, given the fine quality of materials and high level of execution, as well as the design and tools used, it seems very possible that the annotation attributing them to Charles Lewis is correct. According to Maggs Catalogue 1075, Lewis (1786-1836) "was the leading figure in English binding of the first years of the nineteenth century." The son of a Hanoverian immigrant, Lewis (whose German surname was "Ludwig") came to England with other German binders (Kalthoeber, Staggemeier, and Welcher being the most prominent) during the last part of the 18th century. He apprenticed under Henry Walther at age 14 and obtained his freedom in 1807. He set up a shop in Scotland Yard, had other addresses in the Strand, and then established himself in Duke Street, St. James's, in 1817. By 1823 he was employing 21 journeymen, a number of whom are illustrated in a watercolor of the bindery reproduced in Middleton's "A History of English Craft Bookbinding Technique" (p. 349). One of the journeymen was Francis Bedford, who eventually managed the business for five years after Lewis' death. Lewis was patronized by the great collectors of the day, including William Beckford, who favored him above all others. In a letter to the bookseller George Clarke written in 1831, Beckford declared: "Lewis was, and is, and I hope will continue to be, the first artist in this line that Europe can boast of." (ST18164)

Price: $4,500.00