Ruined Abbeys of Britain First Edition - Benjamin Fawcett - Bauman Rare Books

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Ruined Abbeys of Britain

Benjamin FAWCETT | Alexander Francis LYDON | Frederick ROSS

Item#: 116882 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Ruined Abbeys of Britain

Ruined Abbeys of Britain

Ruined Abbeys of Britain

"ONE OF FAWCETT'S LARGEST AND MOST HANDSOME PRODUCTIONS": 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 (LYDON, Alexander Francis, artist). 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, all edges gilt.

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.

"The concluding selection from among the books of Lydon [artist] and Fawcett [engraver and printer] must be their Ruined Abbeys… There are only 12 color plates, but their large scale makes them perhaps the most impressive of any that resulted from the collaboration of Fawcett and Lydon" (Ray). 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. "From a pictorial point of view, The Ruined Abbeys of Britain by Frederick Ross is one of Fawcett's largest and most handsome productions… Mr. Ross' account of each abbey is very complete and well-arranged; and the typography of the work throughout is admirable… The drawing of architecture was certainly one of Lydon's strong points" (Morris, Benjamin Fawcett, Color Printer and Engraver). Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914 105.

Text and plates clean, cloth fine, gilt bright. An about-fine copy.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
Edition Print-run from a single setting of type without substantial change. Depending on demand, any number of printings can be made from a setting of type For example, a first printing might consist of 1000 copies, followed by a second printing of 2500 copies; in which case the book would have a first edition, first printing of 1000 copies, and a first edition, second printing of 2500 copies.
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Engraving Illustration produced by carving lines into a metal plate. This is an intaglio process, in which ink is poured over the plate, then wiped from the surface, leaving ink only in the recesses made by the engraver’s tools. The image is then transferred by pressing thick dampened paper against the metal plate with great force—requiring engravings to be printed on a separate stock and separate press from any text.
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Half Title Leaf preceding the title page that bears the book’s title, originally used to identify the unbound text block. The book’s binder would often remove and discard the half title at the time of binding. Remaining half-titles are therefore of interest to collectors.
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Incunable From the cradle of printing, i.e., any book printed before 1501.
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Japanese Vellum Expensive handmade paper often used in deluxe editions.
Lithograph Illustration produced by transferring an image drawn on a carefully prepared stone to paper. The process allowed illustrations to more closely resemble the original drawings, paintings or sketches, as it gave the lithographer a freedom of line impossible to achieve in earlier intaglio and relief processes. It does not require the same sort of pressure as an engraving to transfer the image, but still has to be printed on separate stock from the text
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Morocco Binding material made from goatskin—versatile, durable, with a distinctive pebbled texture and visible grain. Readily stretched (“straight-grain”), crushed (flattened smooth), tooled in gilt or blind, inlaid with leathers of different colors. So-called because much of the raw material originally came from the tanneries of North Africa (other types of goatskin bindings denoting regions of origin include levant, turkey, niger).
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
Wormhole Tiny pinhole-sized trails left by bookworms as they eat through a text block. Much more common in older books printed on handmade papers with a high rag content than in books printed on manufactured papers made from wood pulp with a higher acidic content.
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