Author: ACKERMANN, Rudolph
Title: History of the University of Oxford, A.
Description: London: R. Ackermann, 1814. One of Twenty-Five Large Paper Copies With all but one of the plates in first state ACKERMANN, Rudolph. A History of the University of Oxford. Its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings. In Two Volumes. London: R. Ackermann, 1814. Large Paper Copy. First edition, first issue (without the Founders), earliest state of plates. One of twenty-five (of fifty) large paper copies on thick paper with hand-colored plates. Two elephant folio volumes (16 1/2 x 13 inches; 420 x 330 mm.). [i]-xiv, [2, arrangement of the plates], [i]-xxv, [1, blank], [1]-275, [1, blank], [6, index] pp.; [i11], [1, blank], 262, [6, index] pp. Complete with both half-titles. With the list of subscribers, the dedication to Lord Grenville and the uncolored engraved portrait of Lord Grenville mounted on India paper (portrait a little foxed). Eighty-one plates (bound without the thirty-three portraits of Founders as is most often the case with the large paper issues), all hand-colored aquatints or stipple-engravings by Bluck, Stadler, Hill and others after Pugin, Westall, Mackenzie and others. The plates are watermarked "J. Whatman 1811" and the text is also watermarked "J. Whatman 1811." Bound by Zaehnsdorf ca. 1900 in full red morocco (stamp-signed on front turn-ins), covers with double gilt ruled borders, spines with five raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, wide elaborate gilt turn-ins, top edge gilt, others uncut, marbled endpapers. This remarkable example, which is exactly the same size as Tooley's example, possesses eight of Abbey & Tooley's nine points for "really choice copies": Volume 1, plate 1 with misprint "Cambridge" for "Oxford"; Plate 15, signed R. Hills after F. Nash: Plate 39 (without overslip); Volume 2, plate 50, dated May 1; Plate 78, dated June 1; Plate 84, signed J. Bluck af F. Mackenzie; Plate 94, (dated Novr.) and Plate 95 (dated April 1). The only plate that is not in first state is Plate 74 (second state with overslips). Portrait frontispiece on India paper very slightly foxed as usual, small stain on lower blank margin of plate 21, plates 68 & 72 of the costume plates are slightly foxed and there is the occasional marginal spot. Otherwise a very fine and fresh copy with superior hand-coloring and more first issue points than any other copy that we have handled or seen. "Of the forty or fifty copies I have examined, not one has contained all of the above plates in the first state. The B.M. copy has all but two in the first state, and the Victoria & Albert Museum copy has likewise all but two.." (Tooley. p. 18). "Ackermann's books were issued in relatively small editions of around 1,000 copies, but the production of such fully illustrated books called for an extensive network of artists and craftsmen as well as a workshop of some size. The drawings and engravings were produced on a commission basis, and the letterpress executed by a firm of printers nearby. Only the printing and coloring of the illustrations themselves was done in Ackermann's workshop. The labor and expense of all this was considerable. It is not surprising that these books, then as now, were priced as luxury objects. A History of the University of Oxford sold for £8. when completed in two volumes. 50 copies were produced on large paper of which 25 were printed on thick paper and these sold for £11." (Lowndes. Bibliographers Manual). These copies which have superior hand coloring have gloss, an incomparably rich glow which is absent from the regular small paper copies fine as these are in early impressions, the text is also on thick Whatman paper which contributes to the luxurious feel of the books. "These two books [Ackermann's History of Oxford and History of Cambridge] are among the finest ever executed. A. Pugin, F. Nach, F. Mackenzie, and W. Westall were associated in the drawings, which are worthy even of the splendid architectural monuments they commemorate, while the engraving was carried out by such masters of aquatint as J. Bluck, J.C. Stadler, F.C. Lewis, D. Havell and others of like reputation. The result was the production of plates of unequaled merit in their particular line" (Prideaux, pp. 125-6). Abbey, Scenery, 278; Tooley 5; Prideaux pp. 125-6. .
Keywords: Costume English History
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Title: History of the University of Oxford, A.
Description: London: R. Ackermann, 1814. One of Twenty-Five Large Paper Copies With all but one of the plates in first state ACKERMANN, Rudolph. A History of the University of Oxford. Its Colleges, Halls, and Public Buildings. In Two Volumes. London: R. Ackermann, 1814. Large Paper Copy. First edition, first issue (without the Founders), earliest state of plates. One of twenty-five (of fifty) large paper copies on thick paper with hand-colored plates. Two elephant folio volumes (16 1/2 x 13 inches; 420 x 330 mm.). [i]-xiv, [2, arrangement of the plates], [i]-xxv, [1, blank], [1]-275, [1, blank], [6, index] pp.; [i11], [1, blank], 262, [6, index] pp. Complete with both half-titles. With the list of subscribers, the dedication to Lord Grenville and the uncolored engraved portrait of Lord Grenville mounted on India paper (portrait a little foxed). Eighty-one plates (bound without the thirty-three portraits of Founders as is most often the case with the large paper issues), all hand-colored aquatints or stipple-engravings by Bluck, Stadler, Hill and others after Pugin, Westall, Mackenzie and others. The plates are watermarked "J. Whatman 1811" and the text is also watermarked "J. Whatman 1811." Bound by Zaehnsdorf ca. 1900 in full red morocco (stamp-signed on front turn-ins), covers with double gilt ruled borders, spines with five raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, wide elaborate gilt turn-ins, top edge gilt, others uncut, marbled endpapers. This remarkable example, which is exactly the same size as Tooley's example, possesses eight of Abbey & Tooley's nine points for "really choice copies": Volume 1, plate 1 with misprint "Cambridge" for "Oxford"; Plate 15, signed R. Hills after F. Nash: Plate 39 (without overslip); Volume 2, plate 50, dated May 1; Plate 78, dated June 1; Plate 84, signed J. Bluck af F. Mackenzie; Plate 94, (dated Novr.) and Plate 95 (dated April 1). The only plate that is not in first state is Plate 74 (second state with overslips). Portrait frontispiece on India paper very slightly foxed as usual, small stain on lower blank margin of plate 21, plates 68 & 72 of the costume plates are slightly foxed and there is the occasional marginal spot. Otherwise a very fine and fresh copy with superior hand-coloring and more first issue points than any other copy that we have handled or seen. "Of the forty or fifty copies I have examined, not one has contained all of the above plates in the first state. The B.M. copy has all but two in the first state, and the Victoria & Albert Museum copy has likewise all but two.." (Tooley. p. 18). "Ackermann's books were issued in relatively small editions of around 1,000 copies, but the production of such fully illustrated books called for an extensive network of artists and craftsmen as well as a workshop of some size. The drawings and engravings were produced on a commission basis, and the letterpress executed by a firm of printers nearby. Only the printing and coloring of the illustrations themselves was done in Ackermann's workshop. The labor and expense of all this was considerable. It is not surprising that these books, then as now, were priced as luxury objects. A History of the University of Oxford sold for £8. when completed in two volumes. 50 copies were produced on large paper of which 25 were printed on thick paper and these sold for £11." (Lowndes. Bibliographers Manual). These copies which have superior hand coloring have gloss, an incomparably rich glow which is absent from the regular small paper copies fine as these are in early impressions, the text is also on thick Whatman paper which contributes to the luxurious feel of the books. "These two books [Ackermann's History of Oxford and History of Cambridge] are among the finest ever executed. A. Pugin, F. Nach, F. Mackenzie, and W. Westall were associated in the drawings, which are worthy even of the splendid architectural monuments they commemorate, while the engraving was carried out by such masters of aquatint as J. Bluck, J.C. Stadler, F.C. Lewis, D. Havell and others of like reputation. The result was the production of plates of unequaled merit in their particular line" (Prideaux, pp. 125-6). Abbey, Scenery, 278; Tooley 5; Prideaux pp. 125-6. .
Keywords: Costume English History
Price: US$ 17500.00 Seller: David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)
- Book number: 05432
- Book number: 05432
See more books from our catalog: Color-Plate Books