Sir Thomas Lawrence, With a Catalogue of the Artist's Exhibited and Engraved Works
Paris / New York: Goupil & Co., Jean Boussoud, Manzi, Joyant & Co., Successor, 1900. Lawrence, Thomas. Limited Edition. Leather. Number 66 of 200 copies, elephant folio size, 191 pp. Near Fine. Item #15112702
Limited edition of 200 copies, this no. 66, specially bound in full leather by Bickers & Son, London. Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) remains one of the most renowned portrait painters of the Regency period. A child prodigy, at the age of 10 he was supporting his family with his portraits. He received his first royal commission, a portrait of Queen Charlotte, in 1790 (at the age of 21) and remained the most sought-after portrait painter in Britain for the next forty years. In a recent (2010) retrospective exhibit of Lawrence's work, it was said of him that "he [was] one of the great painters of the last 250 years and one of the great stars of portraiture on a European stage". This superb volume presents 65 of Lawrence's portraits done in Aquatint photogravure, with two of them hand-coloured, with a life of the artist and a catalogue of his work.
___DESCRIPTION: Custom bound by Bickers & Son, London in full green morocco, both the front and back boards have a decorative ruled border in gilt, raised bands on the spine, gilt lettering and decorations on the spine, top edge gilt, sewn headbands in cranberry, blue and ivory, inner gilt dentelles, marbled endpapers in shades of olive green, grey and ivory, limitation statement on the verso of the half-title page, this copy no. LXVI of CC, tissue-guarded hand-coloured frontispiece of Emily, Countess of Glengall, title page in brown and black with publisher's device in the center, many initial capital letters set in a decorative square using brown ink, Preface and life of Lawrence by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower, Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, photogravures bound in throughout the text with almost all of them being presented both in sepia and grey tones, all with lettered tissue guards, original ribbon marker still present, Table of Contents at the end followed by the List of Illustrations; large folio in size (approximately 15.25" tall), pagination: (i-iii) includes the half-title, limitation and title pages, blank (iv), (i)- iv includes the Preface, 1-97 includes the life of Lawrence, 98 is blank, (99)-176 being the Catalogue, (177)-181 the Table of Contents and List of Illustrations, blank (182), Printer's Statement (183) stating the text and plates were printed near Paris in 1899 - note that pagination excludes the plates.
___CONDITION: Volume is overall in near fine condition, with a strong, square text block, solid hinges, straight corners with a minimum of rubbing, the interior is clean and bright, and it is entirely free of prior owner markings. Due to the book's weight the front joint is just beginning to crack, but the thickness of the boards means it is on the outer surface only and the board is firmly attached, as is the rear board; there is one scrape to the leather on the front board and extremely minor overall edgewear; the spine has sunned to a brownish-green. Internally there is some offset darkening to the free endpapers from the gilt inner dentelles and the book has a very faint musty odor.
___POSTAGE: Please note that due to the size and weight of this work additional postage will apply; we are happy to ship at cost to both domestic and international addresses, please contact us for details.
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Price: $600.00