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Britton (John): The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain... London, Longman, Hurst, etc., 1807. Of various ancient English Ediffices with Historical & Descriptive Accounts of each. In 5 vols. Folio. Large paper copy, with very little foxing. c.360 full-p. engrs. & plans etched by J. le Keux & others. 1/2-lr. & brown boards. Gilt-stamped spine with black labels & raised bands. Teg, others uncut - dusty. Bookplate P.B. Ironside-Bax.
Price: US$ 868.92 Bookseller: Lawrence Chaffe, Eastbourne, E. Sussex, United Kingdom
BRITTON, John. THE ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES OF GREAT BRITAIN. Represented and Illustrated in a Series of Views, Elevations, Plans, Sections and Details, of Various English Edifices: with Historical and Descriptive Accounts of Each. 4 Volumes. London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme .; J. Taylor ..; and the Author, 1807-14. 4to, (Uncut Large Paper Copy, 340 x 255mm.), 283 engraved plates (including the engraved titles), some plates foxed and a few with minor marginal handling tears.The original interim binding of quarter green stained vellum (vol 1) and quarter green morocco (vols 2-4) with drab-paper boards, joints worn and the leather rubbed and with pieces of the vellum missing from the head and tail of the backstrip on vol. 1. Printed labels to each volume, each degraded. A 2-leaf prospectus for Britton's `Salisbury Cathedral' bound in at rears of both vols 3 & 4. (Upcott pxxxi stating that the plates in the large paper copies are in proof state.) The original edition of Britton's monumental survey. Half of volumes 2 & 4 are devoted to domestic and castle architecture the rest of the work s devoted to ecclesiastical buildings and over 40 churches, including Henry VII's, King's College and St George's Chapels, are described and illustrated in great detail. The drawings were prepared and with meticulous care and draughtsmen of the calibre of Cotman and John Repton employed in their production. Nor is the binding - not exactly easy on the eye at first glance - without some significance. It is unquestionably that in which the books were issued but was surely intended as a temporary expedient (until one bespoke one's preferred style of binding from one's bookbinder one assumes). The end-leaves, though present as both free- and paste-downs, front & rear, are present throughout but not conjugate, each is a separate leaf. However the most compelling evidence is the use of stained vellum for the backstrip of volume 1. As early as 1761 Newbery - that most forward looking of booksellers - had employed vellum as a cheaper and less clumsy alternative to conventional leather and Saldeir (The Evolution of Publisher's Binding Styles) offers other references to it in 1774 & 1776. Patrick King (Catalogue 8) also offered an edition of Patterson's `Roads' published, perhaps significantly, by Carnan in 1772-3 and also bound in quarter vellum. However the style never really caught on and the present example suggests, at least to the present writer, that by the first decade of the 19th century the use of vellum in this innovative and imaginative manner had fallen from being proposed as a cheap - though attractive and durable - alternative to leather, to an interim expedient, albeit one here used on a book of some contemporary significance and in the perhaps more desirable large paper issue. That said it is perhaps interesting to note that only the first volume is cased with vellum, therafter the publisher's reverted to leather, though even that on an interim binding suggests some attempt at a quality `point of sale' state. The printed labels on each volume also refelct the increasing prince in the volumes from £6.8s. for vol.1 to £9.12s. for the fianl volume.
Price: US$ 750.43 Bookseller: Barry McKay Rare Books, Appleby in Westmorland Cumbria, CMA, United Kingdom
John Britton: THE ARCHITECTURAL ANTIQUITIES OF GREAT BRITAIN
1835. Five 100pp large quartos with 100s of steel engraved guarded plates of views and ground plans. Ornately gilt buckram, a.e.g. Wear to some backstrips, some boards loose. Small library stamps to plates. Still a major work of reference. Price: US$ 700.00 Bookseller: The Old Book Company, Leeds, WYK, United Kingdom
Britton, John The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain, represented and illustrated in a series of views, elevations, plans, scetions, and details, of Ancient English Edifices: with Historical and descriptive accounts of each. In 5 volumes. 1835. London. First editions 4to. Illustrated throughout withover 300 steel engravings. Bound 3/4 green morocco and marbled boards. Gilt spines, A very good set, rubbed along the extremities. Minor foxing to the plates. Price: US$ 675.00 Bookseller: Old New York Book Shop, ABAA, Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
Britton, John. The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain Represented and Illustrated in a Series of Plans, Sections, and Details, of Ancient English Edifices: With Historical and Descriptive Accounts of Each. Five Volumes. London: M. A. Nattali, 1835. Very Good. 4to. 5 volume set bound in 3/4 brown morocco with elaborately gilt-decorated spines and marbled paper-covered boards. The hinges and boards of the bindings are rubbed but quite sound. All edges gilt. Interiors are clean and unfoxed. Plates are clean. A magnificant set full of engraved views of old buildings, churches, castles as well as architectural details. Volume two is just a shade darker than the other volumes but is problem-free. An attractive set. Price: US$ 675.00 Bookseller: Pages Past--Used & Rare Books, Greensboro, NC, U.S.A.
John Britton The Architectural Antiquities Of Great Britain Covent-Garden: M A Nattali, 1835. Good+/Good+/ Good+/Good+/ Good. Folio - over 12" - 15" tall. The 1835 edition in 3/4 green Morocco. All 5 volumes in very similar cond. The main flaw is moderate foxing which, in each volume, is heavy on the title pages and frontis and fades to very light foxing in the middle of text block. Leather spines and corners and marbled boards lightly rubbed. Some corners bumped. Bindings very tight, absolutely all plates present. each vol. bears tasteful early 19th cent. bookplate, Y.G. Llyod Graeme.
Price: US$ 275.00 Bookseller: Tim Kennedy Bookseller, Encinitas, CA, U.S.A. |