HALL, S. C. (Ed.)
The Book of Gems. The Modern Poets and Artists of Great Britain.
London, Whittaker and Co, Ave Maria Lane., 1838£1,250.00
8vo. Pp. [xvi] 204 + 4. Faxon 1104. Not in Lowndes. FIRST EDITION, WITH FORE-EDGE PAINTING. Full, green publisher’s gilt morocco presentation binding with arabesque design on sides. Bookseller’s ticket (D. Wyllie & Son, Aberdeen) preserved. Fore-edge painting of Fleet Street viewed towards Temple Bar (Painting copied from plae 109 in Thos. A. Shepherd’s “London and its Environs in the Nineteenth Century” (1829) matching exactly Shepherd’s plate, except for the shop sign above No. 185 Fleet Street, which in 1838 should read CANE (Tallis’ Street Views Part 10) but in the painting reads NONCH. By 1847 No.185 was occupied by the “Universe Newspaper Office (Tallis Supplement Part 12) so NONCH could be a resident known to have occupied the premises between 1838 – 1847 – the interval in which the fore-edge painting is likely to have been done).
An anthology of poetry by all the leading British poets of the early 19th century, “embellished” with 43 delicate steel engraved vignettes after the leading artists of those days, including Turner, Stothard, Bonnington, Haydon, Harvey et al. Includes two full-pages plates with facsimile reproduction of the autograhs of the poets. A copy in a fine binding, with a contemporary fore-edge painting, and in very fine condition.
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