The Georgicks [and] The Bucolicks of Virgil.

early colour-printing

A fine example of early colour-printing adorning Martyn's parallel text edition in English and Latin of Virgil's Georgics (1741), found here uniformly bound with his translation of the Bucolics (1749). Rarely found complete.

The colour-printing in Martyn's Georgicks predates any intaglio work listed in Friedman's Colour Printing in England 1486-1870, and precedes Robert Laurie, the engraver reputed to have introduced the process in London. Very few blocks were printed this way because the plates hand to be inked by hand by skilled workers, making the process more expensive than hand-colouring.

The colour-printed plates are botanical, in muted colours with touches of watercolour and gouache. The hand-coloured plates include a chart of the constellations, the hemispheres, a compass rose according to Pliny the Elder, and a diagram of an Italian plough.

Two works; first editions; 4to (29.5 x 24.5 cm); [Georgicks] complete in 11 plates including 2 folding (i.e. 13 images of which 8 are in hand-colour and 5 are colour-printed stipple engravings); [Buckolicks] complete with engraved frontispiece and 4 hand-coloured plates, including 1 folding;titles printed in red and black, parallel text in English and Latin, armorial bookplates to front free endpaper recto and front pastedown of both vols, occasional annotations in pen, some infrequent light toning; uniformly bound in contemporary mottled calf, spines in 6 gilt banded compartments, contrasting red morocco lettering-pieces, edges sprinkled red, joints expertly restored, a near fine set.

ESTC T67044 & T139419.