{"title":"Fine Designs","description":"\u003cp\u003eGift the finest works from renowned designers in performing arts, architecture, landscaping \u0026amp; more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFeaturing Tiffany porcelain concepts, Barbier and Bakst’s exquisite costume designs, and architectural plates by Vitruvius and Palladio, this collection reflects our most influential designers and craftsmen. Gift unique rare works from the \u003cem\u003eBallet Russes\u003c\/em\u003e, decades worth of mansion designs, and chromolithographs from the \u003cem\u003eGreat Exhibitions\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"piranesi-vases-etchings-rome-1791-86859","title":"Vase.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eBest known for his representations of on the archaeological  reconstructions of ruins and the documentation of contemporary Rome, Piranesi also made a fundamental contribution to the development of the decorative arts. The 'Vasi' is one of the most important of his works related to his own interests as a restorer and dealer in antiquities, and which had a great influence on interior decoration, and industrial production of ceramics, etc. This was an aspect of Piranesi's work on which he relied more extensively after the death of his major patron, Clement XIII Rezzonico. Many of the plates illustrate objects made of ancient Roman marbles that could be inspected at his Museo in the Palazzo Tomati where his engraving business and his home were both located. The integration of ancient sculptural fragments into his restored objects allowed for flights of fancy that were very influential on younger architects such as Percier and Fontaine, who made there mark as architects for Napoleon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe plates were issued as individual plates from 1768, first appearing in bound form in 1778 as 'Vasi Candelabri Cippi Sarcofagi', probably compiled by Francesco Piranesi following his father's death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEtching, overall dimensions 63 x 77cm., framed and glazed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMillard, Italian 101.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45546951377201,"sku":"86859","price":9000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/86859_a4aab491-960e-4162-bc57-90e3661249f3.jpg?v=1780920012"},{"product_id":"piranesi-trofeo-etchings-rome-1791-87087","title":"Trofeo di Ottaviano Augusto.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eBest known for his representations of on the archaeological reconstructions of ruins and the documentation of contemporary Rome, Piranesi also made a fundamental contribution to the development of the decorative arts. The 'Vasi' is one of the most important of his works related to his own interests as a restorer and dealer in antiquities, and which had a great influence on interior decoration, and industrial production of ceramics, etc. This was an aspect of Piranesi's work on which he relied more extensively after the death of his major patron, Clement XIII Rezzonico. Many of the plates illustrate objects made of ancient Roman marbles that could be inspected at his Museo in the Palazzo Tomati where his engraving business and his home were both located. The integration of ancient sculptural fragments into his restored objects allowed for flights of fancy that were very influential on younger architects such as Percier and Fontaine, who made there mark as architects for Napoleon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe plates were issued as individual plates from 1768, first appearing in bound form in 1778 as 'Vasi Candelabri Cippi Sarcofagi', probably compiled by Francesco Piranesi following his father's death. This set comprises Vasi antichi di marmo, Vaso inerario, Vasi Signor Corbet and Vasi Carmathen.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePair of etchings. Overall sheet size: 71cm x 49.5cm. Framed and glazed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45546959143217,"sku":"87087","price":2000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/87087.jpg?v=1780920005"},{"product_id":"shoe-design-catalogue-schuhmode-winter-88077","title":"Die Schuhmode - Winter 1924\/25","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eThis unusual album of shoe designs contains designs for both men and women. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLandscape folio (30 x 21 cm),.pp 54, 25 chromolithographed plates (image size 21.5 x 18 cm)., all with descriptive text and captions, 11 small crayon shoe designs (18.5 x 14 cm) on tissue paper and one black and white photograph inserted loose, bound in original grey wrappers, title lettered in gilt, tied with green silk thread, slightly stained on lower wrapper; overall a very attractive collection.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"[SHOE DESIGN CATALOGUE]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45546978410801,"sku":"88077","price":2000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/88077.jpg?v=1780921383"},{"product_id":"porcelain-designs-georges-martel-desvres-1900-88939","title":"Desvres Porcelain designs.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eA lovely pair of uncommon original watercolours of porcelain services.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDesvres, situated in the north of France was a leading centre for porcelain design. The first earthenware factory in Desvres was founded in 1764 by Jean-François Sta, a Desvres lawyer, using local materials. Starting in 1804, François Fourmaintraux brought prosperity by copying popular products from the Delft, Moustiers, Nevers, Strasbourg or Rouen porcelain works. During the nineteenth  century, Desvres became the most important earthenware centre in northern France. George Martel, active circa 1900,  set up one of the largest ceramic factories in the area.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwo sheets (47 x 63 cm.) depicting porcelain services  in watercolour on an egg-shell blue background (linen-backed), each sheet showing up to nine designs, each sheet with the stamp of Georges Martel, the designs captioned in ink manuscript with updated price labels.  Framed and glazed.  Dimensions: 77 by 61cm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"[PORCELAIN]. MARTEL, Georges.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45546991911217,"sku":"88939","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/88939_36319412-c83f-4c70-b491-25997fcd2594.jpg?v=1780920153"},{"product_id":"porcelain-designs-georges-martel-desvres-1900-88940","title":"Desvres Porcelain designs.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eA lovely pair of uncommon original watercolours of porcelain services.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDesvres, situated in the north of France was a leading centre for porcelain design. The first earthenware factory in Desvres was founded in 1764 by Jean-François Sta, a Desvres lawyer, using local materials. Starting in 1804, François Fourmaintraux brought prosperity by copying popular products from the Delft, Moustiers, Nevers, Strasbourg or Rouen porcelain works. During the nineteenth century, Desvres became the most important earthenware centre in northern France. George Martel, active circa 1900, set up one of the largest ceramic factories in the area.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwo sheets (47 x 63 cm.) depicting porcelain services in watercolour on an egg-shell blue background (linen-backed), each sheet showing up to nine designs, each sheet with the stamp of Georges Martel, the designs captioned in ink manuscript with updated price labels. Framed and glazed. Dimensions: 77 by 61cm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"[PORCELAIN]. MARTEL, Georges.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45546992042289,"sku":"88940","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/88940_dd7b1de6-5056-465d-b03e-cda52d5cde57.jpg?v=1780920157"},{"product_id":"repton-observations-landscape-gardening-1803-91546","title":"Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eAn important work which provides 'a guide to [Repton's] approach to landscape design, with explanations of his aims and his methods of achieving them in specific instances'. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book is a compilation of texts from a number of the Red Books he had composed since his last publication, many of them now lost - those for Balstrode, Corsham, Gayhurst, Shardeloes, and West Wycombe. Several others are now in American collections - those for Armley, Brandesbury, Culford, Ferney, the Royal Fort, Bristol, and Stonelands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRepton's Red Books, almost always bound in red morocco, included Repton's suggestions for ways to make clients' estates even more beautiful; with a hill removed here, a lake created there, a clump of trees artfully placed... The books were not printed but were manuscripts with the texts, maps, and drawings done by experts at the height of their professions. Each book included a before and after - a watercolour view of the chosen scene after proposed changes had been made, overlaid by a hinged cutout turning the picture back to the original view.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Red Books formed handsome albums of views for display in the patron's library, to serve as plans or to record work in progress. But Repton's work was very expensive: some clients commissioned their surveys for social prestige, but never attempted to put his recommendations into practice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRepton's Observations is, in effect, a handbook of tricks of the trade, or rather profession, for, unlike Capability Brown, who had usually contracted himself for work, Repton acted only as a consultant and overseer (Millard). 'The overlays in Repton's books on landscape gardening, by means of which he showed selected prospects before and after he had turned his hand to them, have caused collectors to treasure his engravings as curiosities, but they are remarkable as well for the evidence of his draughtsmanship' (Ray).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, 4to. (34 x 27 cm)., stipple-engraved portrait frontispiece, 25 aquatint plates and 2 line-engraved plates, of which 12 are hand-coloured or tinted and 12 plates have overlays, 10 aquatint head and tail pieces and numerous woodcut illustrations in text, 2 of the vignettes with overlays, folding plate at page 208 with tears into image repaired, contemporary half calf, joints and extremities repaired, lightly worn.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMillard, British Books, 65 (second edition); Abbey Scenery 390; Berlin Kat. 3431; Ray 38.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"REPTON, Humphry.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547045650737,"sku":"91546","price":8500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/91546_86364260-512f-4e25-8f0e-f4e171b97c2b.jpg?v=1780920419"},{"product_id":"svetlov-modern-ballet-1911-97545","title":"Sovremenniy Balet. [The Modern Ballet].","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eCovering the work of Marius Petipa (Ballet Master and principal choreographer of the Imperial Ballet) and the development of the Imperial Russian Ballet, Svetlov includes such important figures as Fokine, Isadora Duncan and other modern dancers, up to Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. He also reflects on the reaction of French critics to the art of Russian ballet masters which they saw for the first time in Diaghilev's 'Russian Seasons'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book is richly decorated by Bakst, in his instantly recognisable Art Nouveau style, and beautifully illustrated with reproductions of designs for costumes and scenery by Benois, Golovin, Korovin and Roerich\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, 4to, an additional 66 pages of illustrations tipped in. Pages untrimmed, illustrations and decorations, many by Bakst, some in colour. Original pale-green cloth boards, with gilt illustrative decorations to front and spine, spine faded.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMagriel p.113; Niles \u0026amp; Leslie p.504; cf. Beaumont p168 \u0026amp; Derra de Moroda 2453 (French edition).\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"SVETLOV [IVCHENKO], Valerian.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547111579953,"sku":"97545","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/97545.jpg?v=1780921698"},{"product_id":"watson-greig-fascho-lady-shoe-nineteen-century-gold-and-silver-ink-101447","title":"A Group of Four Ladies' Dress Shoes of the Nineteenth Century.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eScarce first edition. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The sixty-three ladies' shoes now illustrated have all belonged to and been worn by ladies of the 19th century. They have been most carefully selected to illustrate the variety and change of fashion during that period.' Each page contains three nearly life-sized shoes except for a single shoe on frontispiece and last plate, which depicts Madame Cerri's ballet slipper.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA group of four chromolithographed illustrations of shoes, some printed with gold and silver inks, framed and glazed, overall size: 37cm x 52cm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHiller p.395; Lipperheide 1746c.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"GREIG, T[homas] Watson.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547176788273,"sku":"101447","price":5000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/101447.jpg?v=1780922449"},{"product_id":"watson-greig-fascho-lady-shoe-nineteen-century-gold-and-silver-ink-101449","title":"A Group of Six Ladies' Dress Shoes of the Nineteenth Century.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eScarce first edition. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The sixty-three ladies' shoes now illustrated have all belonged to and been worn by ladies of the 19th century. They have been most carefully selected to illustrate the variety and change of fashion during that period.' Each page contains three nearly life-sized shoes except for a single shoe on frontispiece and last plate, which depicts Madame Cerri's ballet slipper.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA group of six chromolithographed illustrations of shoes, some printed with gold and silver inks, framed and glazed, overall size: 37cm x 52cm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHiller p.395; Lipperheide 1746c.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"GREIG, T[homas] Watson.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547176853809,"sku":"101449","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/101449_32a63938-30b8-47e3-8bce-96040120e82e.jpg?v=1780922452"},{"product_id":"watson-greig-fascho-lady-shoe-nineteen-century-gold-and-silver-ink-101450","title":"A Group of Six Ladies' Dress Shoes of the Nineteenth Century.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e'The sixty-three ladies' shoes now illustrated have all belonged to and been worn by ladies of the 19th century. They have been most carefully selected to illustrate the variety and change of fashion during that period.' Each page contains three nearly life-sized shoes except for a single shoe on frontispiece and last plate, which depicts Madame Cerri's ballet slipper.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA group of six chromolithographed illustrations of shoes, some printed with gold and silver inks, framed and glazed, overall size: 37cm x 52cm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHiller p.395; Lipperheide 1746c.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"GREIG, T[homas] Watson.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547176886577,"sku":"101450","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/101450.jpg?v=1780922454"},{"product_id":"ceramics-edouard-garnier-the-soft-porcelain-of-sevres-1892-101644","title":"The Soft Porcelain of Sèvres,","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eMany connoisseurs and collectors have a preference for soft-paste porcelain, especially that of Sèvres, since the colouring is more translucent and less 'solid' than the later hard-paste. The title here is seen as the great authority on the subject. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe soft-paste Sèvres porcelain factory opened in Vincennes in 1745 (later moving to Versailles in 1756), quickly taking the limelight from Meissen in the mid 1750s. By this time the latter was in decline and Sèvres took the mantle as the arbiter of fashion, becoming the leading porcelain factory in Europe. There is no question that the patronage of Louis XV's mistress, Madame de Pompadour, greatly aided this meteoric rise. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not until 1769, when hard-paste porcelain entered production, that a distinction was made in nomenclature between porcelaine de France or vieuse Sèvres (soft paste, or pâte tendre) and porcelaine royale (hard paste, or pâte dure).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFolio; half-title and and title printed in red \u0026amp; black, 50 stunning chromolithographed plates heightened with gold, captioned tissue guards, occasional marginal soiling or browning, a few guards frayed at edges, two with corner section missing, otherwise very good; publisher's two-tone green cloth, professionally restored at extremities, all edges gilt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"[CERAMICS] GARNIER, Edouard.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547178885425,"sku":"101644","price":1900.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/101644_812bc43f-8c7c-4ec7-b7e3-0075dd66fcb9.jpg?v=1780912290"},{"product_id":"tifanny-vase-designs-1920-105437","title":"Group of Three Porcelain Vase designs.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eLouis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American designer who specialised in the decorative arts and is particularly well known for his designs for stained glass windows, lamps, glass mosaics, ceramics, and enamels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGroup of three original watercolour designs on paper, with marginal stamps \"Planche d'aquarelle\" with numbers to each plate.\u003cbr\u003eFramed and glazed, overall size: 53 cm x 35.7 cm x 4.5 cm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Tiffany Vase Designs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547288723761,"sku":"105437","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/105437_4.jpg?v=1780921980"},{"product_id":"tiffany-vase-designs-group-of-three-porvcelain-vase-designs-1920-107214","title":"Group of Three Porcelain Vase designs.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eLouis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American designer who specialised in the decorative arts and is particularly well known for his designs for stained glass windows, lamps, glass mosaics, ceramics, and enamels. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGroup of three original watercolour designs on paper, with marginal stamps \"Planche d'aquarelle\" with numbers to each plate.\u003cbr\u003eFramed and glazed, overall size: 53 cm x 35.7 cm x 4.5 cm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Tiffany Vase Designs","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547411931441,"sku":"107214","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/107214_45f2ca56-e8f8-4540-bbc9-8f0497a4588c.jpg?v=1780921981"},{"product_id":"oliver-messell-costume-design-clorinda-1952-107992","title":"[Costume design for Clorinda, from Rossini's La Cenerentola.]","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eOliver Messel (1904-1978) was 'Great Britain's leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s..., [winning] international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles' (V \u0026amp; A Museum). He designed the sets and costumes for a production of Rossini's La Cenerentola at Glyndebourne in 1952.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInk, charcoal, gouache and water-colour on paper, signed in pencil 'Oliver Messel' on image, in fine condition, 350 x 230 mm; mounted, framed and glazed, 500 x 375 mm.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"MESSEL, Oliver.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45547479466289,"sku":"107992","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/107992_ddf9697c-651b-41c1-976c-99492f2098d2.jpg?v=1780919044"},{"product_id":"piranesi-vases-etchings-rome-1791-86861","title":"Pair of Large Vases.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eBest known for his representations of on the archaeological reconstructions of ruins and the documentation of contemporary Rome, Piranesi also made a fundamental contribution to the development of the decorative arts. The \"Vasi\" is one of the most important of his works related to his own interests as a restorer and dealer in antiquities, and which had a great influence on interior decoration, and industrial production of ceramics, etc. This was an aspect of Piranesi's work on which he relied more extensively after the death of his major patron, Clement XIII Rezzonico. Many of the plates illustrate objects made of ancient Roman marbles that could be inspected at his Museo in the Palazzo Tomati where his engraving business and his home were both located. The integration of ancient sculptural fragments into his restored objects allowed for flights of fancy that were very influential on younger architects such as Percier and Fontaine, who made there mark as architects for Napoleon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe plates were issued as individual plates from 1768, first appearing in bound form in 1778 as 'Vasi Candelabri Cippi Sarcofagi', probably compiled by Francesco Piranesi following his father's death.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwo etchings, overall dimensions 60 x 85cm., framed and glazed. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eMillard, Italian 101.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"PIRANESI, Giovanni Battista.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45624517493041,"sku":"86861","price":3000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/86861.jpg?v=1780920013"},{"product_id":"william-adam-vitruvius-scoticus-first-edition-94665","title":"Vitruvius Scoticus;","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eA beautiful unsophisticated copy of the notoriously rare Vitruvius Scoticus, the paramount source for the history of classical architecture in Scotland.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat was to become William Adam's (1689 - 1748) magisterially-intentioned yet still mysterious Vitruvius Scoticus was first mentioned in a letter in 1726 and by late 1727 Adam was issuing subscription receipts for a book of 'My Designs for Buildings \u0026amp;c. in 150 Plates'. Initially proposed as a book in the manner of James Gibbs' Book of Architecture ('the first book in England to be devoted entirely to the designs of a living architect'), Adam intended clearly to rival Gibbs, to publicise his own work and to seek promotion and patronage from the new King, George II. By 1733, Adam had found an Edinburgh-based engraver suitable for the task (and one who may have shouldered some of the cost) in Richard Cooper, a student of John 'Friar' Pine and 'an acknowledged teacher and connoisseur of the fine arts'. Indeed, it may have been Cooper who was the first to suggest a generalisation of the work and the assumption of a distinct Scottish character with the new title Vitruvius Scoticus. Cooper worked solely from the limited resource of Adam's own designs and under the stricture that there would be no theoretical work in the publication and was therefore limited and slow in what he was able to achieve. It is clear that Cooper's engravings were finished by the early 1740s but the reasons the work was then abandoned - not for the last time - are rather less so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt has been suggested that William Adam hesitated to publish for a number of reasons: financial pressure and the inherent costs of paper, printing and publication; the curtailment of opportunities for promotion and patronage; a conflict of copyright; the 1745 Jacobite rising; Adam's advancing age; and, finally, the possibility of unflattering comparisons to Colen Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus. At William's death in 1748, his son John revised the project, adding additional plates (including several taken from designs by his brothers Robert and James) and it seemed, at least briefly, that the book would finally appear. At the time of the crash of the Fairholme brothers' bank in 1764 all was in readiness but the added financial burden on all of the brothers led John to sell the publishing rights to the London-based Andrew Millar and his partner Thomas Cadell; they issued subscription proposals in 1766. The agreement between John and the Londoners stipulated that of the existing sheets, adequate for 950 copies, they would require material for 750 and would allow the remainder to be retained by John for the existing subscribers. No copies were issued - it has been suggested that the reason was related to copyright although Robert and James Adam's opposition to a family association with 'outmoded taste' has been offered as more compelling - and on Millar's retirement in 1767 the sheets were in storage where they remained for 40 years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1804, Thomas Cadell's son wrote to John Adam's son (another William) that he was no longer able to store the sheets but that a scrap-paper merchant had offered £100 for them. Cadell's advice was to accept and it has been assumed subsequently that William did not: a story likely to be apocryphal states that the unused sheets were returned to Edinburgh and stored in a garret at the Royal Infirmary. It seems rather likelier that William did accept the £100 for the paper and his ongoing negotiations to have Vitruvius Scoticus published in 1808 - 1810 involved only those sheets that remained in Scotland. That the eventual publisher, Adam Black, issued only 120 copies - a very small run for a book of more than limited appeal - supports very strongly the idea that the remaining sheets were pulped, an idea that the present copy, with the plates mounted on paper guards composed of sections of those same plates, corroborates. The final word on the mystery, and indeed, on the publication, belongs to Eileen Harris: 'It is ironical that to be commercially viable Vitruvius Scoticus, clearly the grandest of any architectural book published in Scotland, had to be sold in the end as a remainder … '.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'A resounding silence greeted Adam Black's announcement in the 'Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle' on 29 May 1811 that Vitruvius Scoticus was 'this day... completed in fifteen numbers'. Not only was William Adam's book [Vitruvius Scoticus] a century too late to have the bearing on Scottish architecture that its title promised; but, with no preface, explanatory text, or date of publication, it was silent also about itself, about the intentions of its author and, above all, about its complicatred past.' (Eileen Harris).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The best and most jinxed of all the great 18th century British architectural books, William Adam's Vitruvius Scoticus was three times abandoned by successive generations of the Adam family before, finally in 1811, a young Edinburgh bookseller named Adam Black... published an edition of 'only 120 complete sets' hastily assembled from sheets printed nearly 50 years before... Ill-planned and muddled as the book was from its inception, it was a sad irony that Vitruvius Scoticus should end up as an obscure bookseller's remainder, totally unremarked upon at the time.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'We are left, therefore, with the virtually inescapable conclusion that a decision to publish Vitruvius Scoticus was definitely made, almost certainly in the early 1760s; that this decision was modified after the Fairholme crash to the extent that a London publisher agreed to buy the unsubscribed portion of the edition; and finally that the entire edition was deliberately withheld under the pretence that the work was undergoing revision by the engraver. Such an extraordinary fiasco might seem more far-fetched, were it not possible to detect, behind the scenes as it were, the influence of Robert and James Adam's rising star south of the border, where any publication connected with the family name might do more harm than good if it failed to evince the most advanced and novel taste of the day.' (BAL RIBA).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf the utmost scarcity on the market, we can trace very few copies at auction or in institutions, and of those copies that can be traced, many appear to be incomplete; it is worth noting that Weinreb priced the example in his catalogue 2 ('Books and Drawings Before 1800') at £285 (in contrast the 1485 first edition of Alberti's De Re Aedificatoria was £845) and in catalogue 58 ('Fine Architectural Books, Part 2') in 1988 at £28,000.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, folio (55 x 38.4 cm.), Printed title, two leaves with 'List of the Plans, \u0026amp;c.' in double columns listing 160 plates and 180 engraved plates numbered 1 - 160, including the unnumbered plates 71 and 148 and 20 'bis' plates with duplicate numbers, 20 double-page and one large folding plate on two sheets; plates mounted on paper tabs (from sheets of the same work?) throughout, the title and text leaves on wove paper with the watermark '1809', the plates on laid paper with the watermark 'LLAR' and a fleur-de-lys countermark and others as per RIBA, the sheets retaining deckle edges throughout. Sheet size: c. 53.4 x 35.6 cm; double-page plates: c. 53.4 x 71.2 cm; title and text: 51.8 x 35.8 cm. Contemporary calf-backed marbled paper boards, later protective box.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBAL RIBA 30 (incomplete); Millard 3 (disbound and mounted); Harris 8; Weinreb 2:4 \u0026amp; 58:1; see 'British Architectural Books and Writers 1556 - 1785' by Eileen Harris, Cambridge, 1990, pp. 94 - 104.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"ADAM, William.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45624598626609,"sku":"94665","price":35000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/94665.jpg?v=1780922559"},{"product_id":"vitruvius-daniele-barbaro-dieci-libri-architettura-1556-112326","title":"I dieci libri dell'architettura.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e'the most significant Italian edition of the treatise'\u003c\/h4\u003eFirst edition of Daniele Barbaro's (1514-1570) translation and commentary. This important publication is the fourth translation of Vitruvius into Italian and the sixth into a European vernacular.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe original purpose of this edition was to make accessible to architects who did not know Latin a reliable text of a higher lexicographical quality than that of previous Italian translations. Its aim was to combine the strictly philological and archaeological study of the Vitruvian text with the drafting of a commentary which would also have the function of an architectural treatise for contemporary practice.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDaniele Barbaro benefited from the close collaboration of the Vicentine architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), who not only drew the most important illustrations in books I-VI, but also contributed to the commentaries and the elucidation of certain obscurities of the text of Vitruvius. The abundant woodcut illustrations in the text include a large architectural title (triumphal arch), an elaborate allegorical frontispiece (repeated in fine) showing architects and their instruments, and a further 131 figures including 8 double-page and 15 full-page, engraved by Giuseppe Salviati.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBarbaro's edition 'is widely considered to be the most significant Italian edition of the treatise, the illustrations provided by Andrea Palladio, among others, are the most persuasive architecture illustrations associated with the Vitruvian text' (Millard).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition thus; folio (40.6 x 28.2 cm); roman and italic type, title within woodcut historiated architectural border, 132 woodcut illustrations and diagrams by Salviati after Palladio, including 8 double-page, 15 full-page, 6 illustrations with woodcut overlays or extensions, small volvelle to Q2v, 2 plates on theatres at end with volvelles, pasted cancelled illustrations on E8v and F7r, B3 a cancel, 11-line woodcut initials, numerous 6-line initials, title-page lightly soiled, upper corner of D2 repaired, marginal repairs to V2-V4, occasional browning; later parchment over contemporary vellum, ms. titles to spine, red speckled edges, loss of parchment to spine, light soiling, some rubbing to extremities; overall a lovely copy; collation: A8 B6 C6 χ1 D-G8 H6 I8 K8 (K3 + 2K3) L8 2χ1 M-Q8 R6 S-T8 V4.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUSTC 863689; Berlin Kat. 1814; Brunet V, 1330; Cicognara 713; Fowler 407; Harvard\/Mortimer (Italian), 547; Millard (Italian), 160.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Marcus; BARBARO, Daniele (translator); PALLADIO, Andrea (illustrator).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49028533649713,"sku":"112326","price":25000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/112326_35502a9a-d373-4b42-bd8f-d07dc6789657.jpg?v=1780922268"},{"product_id":"lange-hoffest-ferrara-1846-first-edition-112133","title":"Das Hoffest zu Ferrara, in den Saelen des Koeniglichen Schlosses zu Berlin.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eLange's rare work on Ferrara. 'The plates herein represent fancy-dress costumes for this 1843 recreation of a celebration at the Court of Ferrara, bedecked in Renaissance splendour.' (Bobins).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; folio, 42 hand-coloured lithograph plates, heightened with gum arabic, some trimmed a little short, some lightly foxed, contemporary half roan, neat repairs to extremities,, upper cover lightly stained, a good copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBobins 585; Colas 1758; Lipperheide 2545.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"LANGE Edouard; FRENZEL, Wilhelm.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49818939982129,"sku":"112133","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/112133_979d0103-46b6-464f-ba74-f8f32a1b6da6.jpg?v=1780917671"},{"product_id":"samuel-and-nathaniel-buck-bucks-antiquities-1774-113527","title":"Buck's Antiquities","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003ea crucial cultural touchstone of the eighteenth century\u003c\/h4\u003eA handsome and complete set of this monumental collection of castles, abbeys, country houses, and city prospects, regarded as a crucial cultural touchstone of the eighteenth century. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBuck's Antiquities preserves many castles and abbeys, which are now totally destroyed, and the ways of life of the towns and cities captured in their urban panoramas before the industrial revolution. This was the intention: unlike other works of the time that merely sought to romanticise English history, the Bucks sought to 'rescue the mangled remains... [of] these aged \u0026amp; venerable edifices from the inexorable jaws of time'. By all accounts they succeeded, as their engravings now stand as an invaluable source of local history and topography. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe entire project took Samuel Buck (1696-1779) and his brother Nathaniel Buck (d.1759\/1774) thirty-four years, with eighteen years of travelling between 1724 and 1742 and the engravings themselves appearing in parts from 1726 through to 1753. The commercial success of the enterprise initially made the Buck brothers wealthy, as is shown by the ostentatious mezzotint twin portrait engraved by Richard Houston after the painting by Joseph Highmore. Despite initial success, financial difficulties in later life forced the brothers to sell the plates to Robert Sayer in 1774, who then reissued the complete work in three volumes under the title Buck's Antiquities as here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEach plate has a, sometimes extensive, descriptive caption and the crest and title of the owner of the castle, abbey, or house in question. New to the 1774 issue are the additional descriptions of the plates in the introductions; for the prospects they expand to broad architectural descriptions of the town and cities they depict.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree vols, folio (vols I \u0026amp; II 46 x 30 cm, vol. III 46 x 46.5 cm); mezzotint portrait frontispiece, additional engraved title-page, double-page map coloured in outline, 428 numbered engraved plates with descriptive captions, of which 6 folding, 83 double-page city prospects, engraved vignette head- and tailpieces, armorial bookplates to pastedowns of vols II \u0026amp; III, light spotting to 10 prospects and 6 folding plates, small repaired tear to inner margin of frontispiece and engraved title, outer margins of plate 297 trimmed, otherwise clean internally; contemporary full tree calf expertly restored preserving original spines, gilt rolled border to boards, flat gilt spines in seven compartments with contrasting gilt morocco lettering pieces, gilt to top edges tarnished, a near-fine set; viii, (9)-24, [2]; 17, [1]; 22pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUpcott, 1, xxxiii; Ralph Hyde, Gilded Scenes and Shining Prospects, Panoramic Views of British Towns 1575-1900; Ralph Hyde, A Prospect of Britain, The Town Panoramas of Samuel and Nathaniel Buck.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"BUCK, Samuel \u0026 Nathaniel.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54798171013495,"sku":"113527","price":57500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/113527_9ee3705e-4bcb-4346-b5f4-f1abda0cfba5.jpg?v=1780920999"},{"product_id":"sanquirico-sceniche-decorazioni-pompei-milan-1832-114209","title":"Sceniche Decorazioni, Inventate ed Eseguite","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eThe magnificent collection of the stage sets of La Scala theatre in Milan by Alessandro Sanquirico (1777-1849), and the supplement with 8 plates showing the set design and costumes for the 1827 La Scala production of Giovanni Pacini's opera L'ultimo giorno di Pompei.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlessandro Sanquirico (1777-1849) was the set designer and principle scene painter of La Scala between 1817 and 1832, during which time he established himself as the foremost in his craft and heavily influenced his peers. Many of the sets within this work were created for premiers by the likes of Clerico, Pacini, Vigano, Mosca, Bellini, Rossini, Soliva, Pavesi, Mozart, and Mayerbeer. His designs established and defined the style of nineteenth-century opera, combining neo-classicism with the burgeoning Romantic movement. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA definitive collation does not exist since each copy varies in the number of plates and their subject. There was no single publication date and different copies terminate at different years preceding Sanquirico's own retirement in 1832.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTwo works in one, landscape folio (39.5 x 47.5 cm); manuscript title, 1 tinted aquatint plate, 8 fine hand-coloured aquatint plates, the odd spot to margins; manuscript title, 66 hand-coloured aquatint plates, very occasional spot to margins, otherwise clean internally; contemporary straight-grained red morocco panelled gilt with Greek key rolls, thin serrated and solid fillets, the outer frame punctuated with neo-classical shields, smooth spine gilt with double-gilt rules separating the spine into 8 compartments infilled with 6-pointed stars, a fine example.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBobins V, 1513; Nagler XIV, p267; Ricci, La scenografia italiana II, 23.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"SANQUIRICO, Alessandro.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54946163163511,"sku":"114209","price":65000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/114209.jpg?v=1780921097"},{"product_id":"dickenson-pictures-great-exhibition-london-1854-114198","title":"Dickinson's Comprehensive Pictures of the Great Exhibition of 1851,","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003ethe great exhibition\u003c\/h4\u003eThe Great Exhibition, housed within the 'Crystal Palace', embodied Prince Albert's vision to display the wonders of industry from around the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis highly detailed and colourful sequence of images was published as a pictorial record of the hugely successful Great Exhibition of 1851, which ran in London's Hyde Park between May and October of that year. Originally conceived by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (whose most famous patron was Prince Albert) the exhibition set out to display the staggering progress that had been achieved in all of the Society's disciplines. The exhibition building itself was the source of worldwide acclaim: the famous 'Crystal Palace' designed by Joseph Paxton, and built in cast-iron and plate-glass, stretched symbolically 1,851 feet in length and rose to 128 feet in the air.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMore than 100,000 objects were displayed by over 14,000 exhibitors from around the world, grouped into four principal themes: Machinery, Manufactures, Fine Arts and Raw Materials. Included in the exhibits were full scale hydraulic presses, steam engines, carriages, firearms, porcelain, enamels, carpets, textiles and even the 186 carat Kohi-Noor diamond, among thousands upon thousands more artefacts (many of which are shown in this sequence). Over six million people visited the exhibition during its relatively short opening period, many of whom travelled to London from far-afield via the rapidly expanding railway network.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 2 vols, folio (59 x 44 cm); 55 chromo-lithograph plates, including 2 frontispieces, by Dickinson Brothers after Joseph Nash, Louis Haghe and David Roberts, finished by hand and heightened with gum arabic, titles red and black with woodcut initials, ex-library bookplates to pastedowns and stamps to title, occasional minor creasing with a couple small tears to margins, a touch of offsetting to guards, otherwise plates clean and bright; contemporary half red morocco gilt, rebacked with original spines laid down, over green cloth boards, gilt morocco title labels to upper boards, spines lettered in gilt in five compartments, all edges gilt, inner hinges reinforced, extremities a little bumped, spines lightly rubbed, a very good copy; [29]; [29]ff.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAbbey (Scenery), 251.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"DICKINSON BROS (publishers).","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54987718066551,"sku":"114198","price":22500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/114198_238dc915-43fb-4abd-993a-9b3b649b0ede.jpg?v=1780913278"},{"product_id":"103908","title":"Costumbres Andaluzas","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eColourful plates depicting Andalusian dress, dance, trades and customs. The illustrator Antonio Chamán, born in Cádiz, developed part of his career as an illustrator in Málaga, where he worked on lithographs reflecting popular types and views of the capital. He drew this series \"Andalusian Customs\" for the publisher Carlos Santigosa between 1852 and 1854.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e15 hand-coloured lithograph plates (of 25 only), many heightened with gum arabic. Approximately 65 cm x 48.9 cm, some vary in size. Some soiling to margins, not affecting the images.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Chaman, Antonio D.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55241903341943,"sku":"103908","price":6500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/103908.jpg?v=1780908896"},{"product_id":"barbier-nijinsky-1913-115832","title":"Dessins sur les danses de Vaslav Nijinsky.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eBarbier's wonderful illustrations for the Ballets Russes. Nijinsky is depicted here in Scheherazade, Carnaval and L'Après-midi d'un Faune. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'The designs, although somewhat fantastic in treatment, do convey the impression produced by Nijinsky in his famous characters' (Beaumont).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'In his brief time, Nijinsky was the most famous male dancer in the world, a pre-eminence due in part to his extraordinary virtuosity. But it was not his virtuosity alone that made him such a powerful stage presence. As contemporary reports make clear, Nijinsky was a great and unusual actor. The ideal Fokine interpreter, he was able to expand a simple choreographic design into a rich dramatic portrait, using, in keeping with Fokine's dicta, the whole body as an expressive instrument. Nijinsky's influence as a dancer was immediate and huge. That ballet, nearly extinguished artistically in western Europe, was revived in this century is due to him and other great dancers of his generation, such as Anna Pavlova and Karsavina, as well as to Diaghilev. That male ballet, utterly extinguished, was also revived is due to him preeminently. Nijinsky was the first real ballet star of the male sex that Europe had seen since the retirement of Auguste Vestris nearly a century earlier. He initiated a renaissance.' (Cohen: The International Encyclopedia of Dance Vol. 4, pp. 646-648).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, limited edition, one of 340 copies on vélin, from a total edition of 390, folio (33 x 28 cm); title, 8pp. of text in French by Miomandre, black and white vignette, 12 full-page colour illustrations by Barbier printed on rectos only, printed wrappers, yapp edges slightly worn, a very good copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"BARBIER, George (illustrator); MIOMANDRE, Francis de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55710981194103,"sku":"115832","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/115832.jpg?v=1780911296"},{"product_id":"bakstfeia-kukol-st-petersburg-1904-119499","title":"Feia Kukol. [La fée des poupées].","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eBakst's masterpiece, according to fellow artist and art historian Alexandre Benois. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDuring the first half of his career, Bakst (1866-1924) mostly painted landscapes, scenes and portraits. However in 1899, when he co-founded, with Serge Diaghilev, the art group Mir Isskustva [The World of Art], he turned towards the performing arts. This was to culminate in his designs for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe present work is a fine example of one of Bakst's early theatrical designs (1903), for the short ballet Feya kukol by Joseph Bayer, pre-dating his work for the Ballets Russes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eComplete set of twelve postcards (14.3 x 9.1 cm) printed in colours after designs by Bakst, most heightened with gilt, [4]pp. list of postcards in Russian and French, cards 1, 6, 11 and 12 lighter, the others more brown, as usual, with the original printed envelope also designed by Bakst.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"BAKST, Leon.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55710981849463,"sku":"119499","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/119499.jpg?v=1781110346"},{"product_id":"designs-inigo-jones-london-1731-1733-121840","title":"Designs of Inigo Jones","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003eThe first edition of this continuation by the English architect Isaac Ware (1704-1766) of William Kent's Designs of Inigo Jones. Illustrated with 53 engraved plates, including 5 double-page designs.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePublished in c.1731-1733 without imprint and with the engraved cartouche to the title verso inscribed 'Most of these Designs are already Executed, \u0026amp; the rest, are at Burlington House'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e'Ware attribute many, but not all, of the designs shown in the plates to Inigo Jones: six chimney pieces, one staircase, one theater, seven ceilings, piers at Windsor Castle, an altarpiece and screen in Somerset House Chapel, a stable, and a simple rectangular garden \"Seat\" with Doric columns in antis. William Kent is represented by more designs than Jones: 11 chimney pieces, the dining room at Houghton, another room designed for the Duke of Grafton, an obelisk for Shotover, and a variety of garden seats and pavilions: a \"Room\" at Shotover, two \"Rooms\" at Claremont, \"Seats\" for Sir Charles Hotham and Lord Cobham, and a domed \"Temple.\" Kent's garden \"Rooms\" are simple in plan, and based on octagonal, square, or circular figures. The building at Shotover is domed, and the entrance of one \"Room\" at Claremont is framed by battered architraves. The largest garden structure is the two-story domed \"Seat\" depicted in Plates 43 and 44, five windows wide on the ground story, front by hexastyle pedimented Doric portico, with three rooms inside on the ground floor. There is one design by Lord Burlington, for the piers at the entrance to Chiswick House (Plate 25). The design for an \"Alcove\" (Plate 23) is unattributed' (Archer).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOblong 4to (25 x 17.5 cm); 53 engraved plates, including 5 double-page, engraved title and tables of contents, armorial bookplate to front pastedown, the odd minor tear to lower margin not affecting designs, toned with occasional moderate spotting, small worm track at gutter margin of first 5 plates; contemporary half reverse calf, marbled boards, edges stained red, a little rubbed with minor loss to extremities, very good; 56ff.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eESTC T116217; Archer 340.1; cf.Millard 34.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"JONES, Inigo; [KENT, William; BURLINGTON, Lord; WARE, Isaac].","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56680568586615,"sku":"121840","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121840.jpg?v=1780913257"},{"product_id":"goncharova-larionov-boris-anrep-120593","title":"L'art decoratif theatral moderne.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003epresentation copy inscribed by both artists to Boris Anrep\u003c\/h4\u003eWith two additional lithographs - one by Larionov and one by Goncharova (which is initialled by the artist).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInscribed to Boris Vasileyvich Anrep (1883-1969), a Russian-born artist and poet, best known in Britain for his monumental mosaics at the National Gallery, the Bank of England, Westminster Cathedral and Tate Britain. Anrep had an extraordinary life and was not only a talented artist but a prolific cultural figure of the first half of the twentieth century. His circle included the most famous artists and poets of the era and amongst his many romantic partners was Anna Akhmatova, with whom he had a passionate affair with which spanned several years.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnrep was born in St Petersburg to an affluent family (his father was a scientist and deputy in the Duma) and attended a school in Kharkiv. He enlisted to study at the prestigious School of Jurisprudence at St Petersburg but around 1908 decided that the life of the poet and artist was preferable. By this stage he had become acquainted with a number of artists in Russia and decided to study at the Académie Julian in Paris. He became friends with Henry Lamb and Augustus John whilst studying in France and they introduced him to the rest of the Bloomsbury Group. It was with these British connections that he was invited to work with Clive Bell on Roger Fry's second Post-Impressionist exhibition in 1912. Anrep oversaw the Russian section and presented pictures by Natalia Goncharova and Mikhail Larionov. The friendship between the three emigre artists clearly continued as this book exemplifies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe show featured mosaics, paintings, drawings, a book of poetry, and blouses embroidered by Anrep's first wife, Yunia. The eclectic nature of the exhibition aligned with the ethos of the Bloomsbury Group and Roger Fry's Omega Workshops.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnrep had by this point decided that his interests lay mainly in mosaics (he was originally inspired by the Byzantine mosaics in Ravenna on a trip with Dmitry Stelletsky in 1904) and his first success in London came in 1914 when his work was commissioned for the ceiling of the crypt in Westminster Cathedral. However, his career was put on hold when WWI broke out, and he enlisted as an officer in the Russian army. The start of the war and a return to St Petersburg also marked the beginning of his affair with Akhmatova. Boris was certainly a prolific womaniser but for Anna it was intense and inspired over 30 poems that trace their relationship from her early hopes and dreams to her bitter disappointment at their parting. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe gifted her a wooden alter cross, which she kept until her death, and she gave him a black funeral ring which she'd inherited from her Tatar grandmother and attributed a special power to. The ring disappeared when a bomb hits Anrep's London studio in 1939, the ring disappears. 'Tears of despair filled my eyes... What will I say if A. A. will ask?'. They didn't see each other for decades but reunited in Paris hotel in 1965. Anrep wrote of the encounter, 'I wanted to break through the forest that grew between us. But there was a heavy headstone on top of me. On me and on all the past, and there was no strength to arise'. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe portfolio is complete with beautiful avant-garde pochoirs (stencils) and lithographs, some of the best illustrations by the artists who emigrated in 1915: 'Larionov and Goncharova celebrated their arrival in Paris with a large exhibition of their theatrical work in May 1919 at the Galerie Barbazanges. […] Th[is] impressive folio was published concurrently with the exhibition\" (Parton 178). It highlights the artists' interest in both stage and costume design, while also emphasising their desire to combine forms of cubism with the representation of movement.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs founding members of Rayonism, an abstract art movement developed in 1911, Goncharova and Larionov focused on combining technology, speed and modernity to depict the dynamic character of early 20th-century life. They sought an art that went beyond abstraction to break down barriers between the public and the artist. It may have been short-lived, but Rayonism had huge impact at the time, and we view it now as a crucial step in the development of Russian abstract art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFolio (32.5 x 25 cm). 18 pp. with tipped-in illustrations, [2] pp. table of contents, [1] p. limitation, 6 loose pochoir plates and 8 loose prints, 3 of which are tipped in, all by Goncharova and Larionov, two additional loose lithographs one of which is initialled by Goncharova, central fold marks; in the original wrappers, some staining to wrappers but overall a very good copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNot in MoMA.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"GONCHAROVA, Natalia; LARIONOV, Mikkail; PARNAKH, Valentin.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56743938326903,"sku":"120593","price":15000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/120593_7bc233fc-b3bb-4f56-b928-3cee2ffae4d3.jpg?v=1781110505"},{"product_id":"121033","title":"Modes et manières d'aujourd'hui.","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003ewith two original drawings\u003c\/h4\u003eComplete set of seven volumes of Modes et Manières in the original portfolios, with 84 plates in total. A fine bright copy of an Art Deco landmark. Two of the issues (numbers 2 and 4) are from the smaller edition with an original signed drawing, one by Lepape and one by Martin.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e7 issues (complete), 8vo; all issues a total edition of 300, issue no.1, one of 271 copies on Japon (no.276), 12 plates after Lepape, initialled in pencil by Lepape and Corard on the justification; issue no. 2, one of 17 copies with an original 'remarque' on Japon (no.27), original signed in pencil by Lepape, creased in the bottom corner, 12 plates after Charles Martin, signed by Martin on the justification; issue no. 3, one of 271 copies on Japon (no. 139), initialled by Barbier on the justifcation, 12 plates after Barbier; issue no.4, one of 17 with an original 'remarque' on Japon (no.20), original drawing with silver, monogrammed by Charles Martin, 12 plates after Lepape; issue no. 5, one of 271 copies on Japon (no.113), 12 plates after Andre Marty; issue no. 6, one of 271 copies on vélin d'arches (no. 74); 12 plates after Robert Bonfils; issue no. 7, one of 271 copies on vélin de cuve (no.76), 12 plates by Fernand Siméon; all loose as issued in the original portfolios with patterned paper folding paper internally, each issue with a illustration on the upper by the corresponding artist, some issues with some spotting to covers, no. 4 with split spine, no. 6 lacking one tie, housed in a modern red cloth box with brown morocco label to spine, a very good set.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"BARBIER, George; LEPAPE, Georges; MARTIN, Charles; MARTY, Andre.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56808538997111,"sku":"121033","price":13500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121033.jpg?v=1781110284"},{"product_id":"george-frederick-kunz-book-pearl-first-edition-inscribed-122618","title":"The Book of the Pearl","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003epresentation copy\u003c\/h4\u003eKunz' monograph on the pearl has been described as 'One of the most beautiful books published in the United States' (Sinkankas). Prized for the enormous amount of reliable information it contains. This is an early issue binding, the first issue being distinguished by cream pearls to the cover and the top edge being gilt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInscribed by the author in blue ink of the front flyleaf: 'Written for \/ Chester Benson Esq. \/ with the sincerest appreciation \/ of the senior author \/ George Frederick Kunz \/ \"thrice flung in the deep \/ I rise from beneath \/ a fish on each finger \/ and a pearl in my teeth\" \/ 7 July 1927'.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition, early issue with variant binding (lacking pearl decoration and gilt top edge), inscribed by the author; 4to; 25 colour plates and numerous black \u0026amp; white, 5 maps, illustrations in text; publisher's turquoise cloth, elaborately blocked in gilt, corners bumped, rubbing to extremities, a few minor marks, otherwise very bright and internally fine; 548 pp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSinkankas 3690.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"KUNZ, George Frederick; STEVENSON, Charles Hugh.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56893204431223,"sku":"122618","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122618.jpg?v=1780914443"},{"product_id":"joseph-nash-mansions-england-london-1839-1849-1869-122080","title":"The Mansions of England","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003eillustrated with 106 hand-coloured lithographs mounted on card\u003c\/h4\u003eThe first and best edition, with all the hand-coloured plates mounted on card, of 'one of the most important of the lithograph books when coloured' (Tooley).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn order to prepare these hundred or so lithographs of surviving country houses of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries, many of them little known, Nash (1809-1878) roamed the country and sketched each one thoroughly on site, spending ten years on the project. He confined himself strictly to reproducing architectural details, exterior and interior, but enlivened them romantically with scenes of Tudor domestic life, feasting, and revels that he researched carefully in the antiquarian works of Joseph Strutt. His goal was to revive interest in these old English buildings by presenting them as the natural setting for some very modern sentiments, combining hearty feasting and drinking with class conciliation, domestic comfort, and virtue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Mansions' combination of architectural and antiquarian accuracy with contemporary values was devastatingly effective. Nash's plates were immediately engraved for mass circulation in the Saturday Magazine and widely copied and plagiarised in the popular illustrated press. They served as a sourcebook for architects but also as advertising placards for tourist sites around the country that became more accessible as the railway network developed, and already in 1841 Nash's work was cited before a parliamentary select committee as a factor in the growing popular taste for visiting historic buildings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNotable houses pictured include Holland House in Kensington, London, the majority of which was destroyed during the Blitz, Hever Castle in Kent, and the grand staircase at Hardwicke Hall in Derbyshire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFirst edition; 5 vols; large folio (56.5 x 48 cm); the first 4 vols containing 106 fine hand-coloured lithographs printed by Hullmandel mounted on card as issued on 104 leaves, the fifth vol. the expanded 1869 folio reissue of the text (57 x 39 cm), bookplates to front pastedown, occasional light spotting; 19th-century half red morocco gilt by Sotheran, gilt title in gothic script to upper red cloth covers, gilt spines in 7 compartments, lettered to second and fourth, others with floral arabesque design, all edges gilt, covers slightly rubbed and abraded with occasional loss to leather and to cloth on the upper cover of vol. IV, cloth a little soiled, overall a very good example.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAbbey Scenery 402; Tooley 337.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"NASH, Joseph.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56905640968567,"sku":"122080","price":12500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/122080_64cb554c-1baf-4f12-b15c-dba0bc3efd18.jpg?v=1780916912"},{"product_id":"121037","title":"Dix-sept dessins...","description":"\u003ch4 class=\"srb-faux-head\"\u003ecopy number one\u003c\/h4\u003eFinely bound by Creuzevault in the same spirit as one of the Barbier compositions. From the édition de tête with an extra suite in black and white.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMagnificent illustrations for the classically-themed story of 'The Song of Songs' elaborately printed in the bold palette of black, white, and gold. George Barbier's depiction of figures, animals and plants is clearly inspired by both Greek and Roman imagery while retaining the seductive elegance of the early Art Deco.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLimited edition, one of 10 copies with an extra suite in black (this being copy number one)4to (23.7 x 22.4 cm) on Japon; 17 compositions by Barbier, of which 13 are full-page, printed in black and gold, with an extra suite interleaved, some foxing and staining, more so to some leaves than others; finely bound by Creuzevault in dark brown morocco with gilt detail across the covers, gilt title to spine, top edge gilt, black and gold patterned endpapers, decorative gold paper covered black morocco entry slipcase, a very good copy.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"BARBIER, George.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57036907938167,"sku":"121037","price":13500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/files\/121037.jpg?v=1780909871"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0733\/4694\/1233\/collections\/Fine_Designs_8b0ef775-667a-4e4d-bb3e-0116376677f4.png?v=1777467350","url":"https:\/\/shapero.com\/collections\/fine-designs.oembed","provider":"Shapero Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}