"WHEN AN AMERICAN VISITS HIS ANCESTRAL FATHERLAND OF ENGLAND, HIS SUPREME DESIRE IS TO LOOK UPON THE CATHEDRALS, THE ANCIENT CASTLES, AND THE MUTILATED REMAINS OF THE OLD ABBEYS": FIRST EDITION OF ROSS' THE RUINED ABBEYS OF BRITAIN, WITH 12 BEAUTIFUL FOLIO PLATES OF ABBEYS BY A.F. LYDON AND NUMEROUS IN-TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS

ROSS, Frederick. The Ruined Abbeys of Britain. London: William Mackenzie, [1882]. Two volumes. Folio (11 by 14-1/2 inches), original black- and gilt-stamped pictorial teal cloth. $1100.

First edition of this survey of Britain's religious ruins", with 12 beautiful color plates of abbeys and their environs by A.F. Lydon and dozens of intricate in-text architectural illustrations.

Intended as a pictorial and textual history of the ruined abbeys of England, the lovely folio work discusses Tintern, Fountain, Melrose, Bolton, Glastonbury, Dryburgh, Kirkstall, Netley, Furness, Whitby, Jedburgh, and Rievaulx Abbeys, and offers 12 folio illustrations of them by acclaimed artist A.F. Lydon as well as detailed in-text studies of particular architectural details and interior diagrams.

Scattered foxing and soiling to interior mildly affecting just two plates, cloth bright with only light wear to extremities and rub mark to spine of Volume II. A handsome copy.