"AMONG THE MOST ASTONISHING FIGURES IN THE CHRONICLE OF THE FRENCH ILLUSTRATED BOOK"

(VIERGE, Daniel) QUEVEDO, Francisco de. Pablo de Segovia: The Spanish Sharper. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1892. Folio, original full vellum rebacked with the original spine laid down, red morocco spine labels. $400.

Early edition with the Vierge pen-and-ink illustrations, the first title to exhibit the new printing process of the “line cut,” with photogravure frontispiece portrait of Quevedo after Velasquez.

Typeset from the 1798 Edinburgh English translation by Pedro Pinedo of Quevedo's Life of Paul the Spanish Sharper, illustrated with 110 pen-and-ink line cuts by Daniel Vierge, together with comments on the illustrations by Joseph Pennell, and an essay on the life and writings of Quevedo by Henry Edward Watts. "Daniel Vierge is among the most astonishing figures in the chronicle of the French illustrated book" (Ray, 390). He is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Illustration," for his invention and development of the process called the "line cut," whereby the freedom of line achieved through pen-and-ink drawing can be reproduced by photo-engraving in relief and printed alongside the text. It was by way of his illustrations for Quevedo's Segovia (first published in Spanish in 1882) that the world became aware of Vierge's incredible advance.

Faint scattered foxing, rectangular stain to front cover, chipping to spine label. An exceptionally good copy.