Details
SANGORSKI, ALBERTO, calligrapher and illuminator, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, The Potency of Love, an anthology with a monograph by Sir Sidney Lee, Tributes of Three Centuries. [London, 1918-21]
4° 260 x 205mm. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, 21 leaves (40 numbered pages plus colophon page) plus one blank vellum fly-leaf each at front and back, on linen guards, silk interleaves, and written in a fine upright gothic bookhand in black and red ink, titles in red or burnished gold, large burnished gold and decorated initials throughout, historiated initial, title with portrait of Shakespeare and full illuminated border of gold and colours, one full-page miniature with illuminated border and frame, blue and gold foliage, 4 pages with miniatures, full-page borders and large illuminated initials, 9 with full-page borders and large illuminated initials, a commemorative page with a portrait of Shakespeare and his achievement of arms, 6 views of Stratford-upon-Avon buildings and monuments accompanied by part borders and illuminated initials, an endpiece with a putto, all the illumination in shades of dark purple, blue, green, brown and a little red, with pen-work flourishing in colours and gold, the miniatures featuring naked nymphs, Venus, Cupid and amori in woodland settings. The colophon reads: "The Potency of Love. An Anthology by William Shakespeare and 'Tributes of Three Centuries' a Monograph written by Sir Sidney Lee on the occasion of the Tercentenary of the death of the poet April 1916. This manuscript was designed, written out, and illuminated by Alberto Sangorski This manuscript will not be duplicated. [signed] Alberto Sangorski". Blue levant morocco gilt, upper cover with two narrow black morocco borders enclosing a floral design incorporating stems, leaves and flowers onlaid in citron, red, tan and green morocco, a central cartouche with Shakespeare's achievement of arms onlaid in brown, black, citron, silvered and gilt morocco, lower cover with onlaid black morocco borders enclosing hearts and disks onlaid in red and orange and a central motif of a heart and cupid's bow and quiver of arrows in red, purple, tan and pink morocco, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettered in 2 compartments and the remainder onlaid black morocco strapwork panels enclosing red and citron flowers, board edges with double gilt fillet, turn-ins with double narrow strapwork borders onlaid in black morocco containing entwined stems, foliage and hearts onlaid in red, citron, green and brown, cream watered silk doublures and liners, g.e., dark green straight-grained morocco, gilt-lettered and watered silk- and velvet-lined box with brass catches (one catch faulty). Provenance: Frederick S. Peck (bookplate).
4° 260 x 205mm. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, 21 leaves (40 numbered pages plus colophon page) plus one blank vellum fly-leaf each at front and back, on linen guards, silk interleaves, and written in a fine upright gothic bookhand in black and red ink, titles in red or burnished gold, large burnished gold and decorated initials throughout, historiated initial, title with portrait of Shakespeare and full illuminated border of gold and colours, one full-page miniature with illuminated border and frame, blue and gold foliage, 4 pages with miniatures, full-page borders and large illuminated initials, 9 with full-page borders and large illuminated initials, a commemorative page with a portrait of Shakespeare and his achievement of arms, 6 views of Stratford-upon-Avon buildings and monuments accompanied by part borders and illuminated initials, an endpiece with a putto, all the illumination in shades of dark purple, blue, green, brown and a little red, with pen-work flourishing in colours and gold, the miniatures featuring naked nymphs, Venus, Cupid and amori in woodland settings. The colophon reads: "The Potency of Love. An Anthology by William Shakespeare and 'Tributes of Three Centuries' a Monograph written by Sir Sidney Lee on the occasion of the Tercentenary of the death of the poet April 1916. This manuscript was designed, written out, and illuminated by Alberto Sangorski This manuscript will not be duplicated. [signed] Alberto Sangorski". Blue levant morocco gilt, upper cover with two narrow black morocco borders enclosing a floral design incorporating stems, leaves and flowers onlaid in citron, red, tan and green morocco, a central cartouche with Shakespeare's achievement of arms onlaid in brown, black, citron, silvered and gilt morocco, lower cover with onlaid black morocco borders enclosing hearts and disks onlaid in red and orange and a central motif of a heart and cupid's bow and quiver of arrows in red, purple, tan and pink morocco, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettered in 2 compartments and the remainder onlaid black morocco strapwork panels enclosing red and citron flowers, board edges with double gilt fillet, turn-ins with double narrow strapwork borders onlaid in black morocco containing entwined stems, foliage and hearts onlaid in red, citron, green and brown, cream watered silk doublures and liners, g.e., dark green straight-grained morocco, gilt-lettered and watered silk- and velvet-lined box with brass catches (one catch faulty). Provenance: Frederick S. Peck (bookplate).