細節
LEWIN, William (1747-1795). The Birds of Great Britain, with their eggs, accurately figured. London: for the author, sold by Leigh and Sotheby, 1789-1794.
7 volumes, large 4° (337 x 275mm). 323 (only, of 330) ORIGINAL BODY-COLOUR PAINTINGS ON VELLUM BY LEWIN, occasionally heightened with gum-arabic, 265 of birds, 58 of their eggs, all on tinted mounts with tissue guards, the first signed and dated 1788 by Lewin. (Lacking 7 paintings, 6 others detached from their mounts and loosely inserted, light damage to surface of about 26 paintings, small sections of tissue guards adhering to 3 paintings, single worm-track through lower outer margin of about a third of vol.I.) Contemporary English red morocco gilt, gilt turn-ins, g.e. (joints a trifle weak). Provenance: MARCEL JEANSON (bookplate, sale: Sothebys Monaco, 16 June 1988, lot 52 sold FF320,000).
FIRST EDITION. DELUXE COPY, WITH THE PAINTINGS ON VELLUM, OF THE RAREST OF ALL BIRD BOOKS. The whole edition, including the normal copies with the paintings on paper, is traditionally limited to 60 (or 66?) sets. The standard natural history bibliographies do not mention copies on vellum, there is an entry by Lowndes "On Vellum. Four copies known" - however it is not clear whether this refers to the first or second edition.
This copy includes (in volume I) an extra painting of the female Shrike [?XXX*], and the 26 eggs depicted on 7 plates in the normal issues are here shown on 13 plates. The following bird paintings have been neatly excised: plate CVIII Stone Chat; CIX Whin Chat; CLVIII Common Snipe; CLXII Jadreka Snipe; CCXIII Tarrock; CCLI Wigeon; CCLII Shoveler.
Lewin was born in Stepney, London. By his mid-twenties he seems to have been making his living as a designer of textile patterns, by his mid-thirties he was describing himself as a "painter". In the early or mid-1780s Lewin painted a few copies of the watercolour catalogue of the dowager duchess of Portland's collection of birds' eggs, but his main work, to which he devoted the last six years of his life was The Birds of Great Britain. The enormous amount of effort required to produce the circa 19,000 paintings took its toll - the later plates are generally of poorer quality than the earlier ones. However, the quality of these paintings on vellum does seem to be consistently higher: a comparison between the paper version (lot ?) and the vellum version reveals a much more painstaking approach, as well as occasional interesting variations in the postures of the birds. Cf. Lowndes II,p.1351. (7)
7 volumes, large 4° (337 x 275mm). 323 (only, of 330) ORIGINAL BODY-COLOUR PAINTINGS ON VELLUM BY LEWIN, occasionally heightened with gum-arabic, 265 of birds, 58 of their eggs, all on tinted mounts with tissue guards, the first signed and dated 1788 by Lewin. (Lacking 7 paintings, 6 others detached from their mounts and loosely inserted, light damage to surface of about 26 paintings, small sections of tissue guards adhering to 3 paintings, single worm-track through lower outer margin of about a third of vol.I.) Contemporary English red morocco gilt, gilt turn-ins, g.e. (joints a trifle weak). Provenance: MARCEL JEANSON (bookplate, sale: Sothebys Monaco, 16 June 1988, lot 52 sold FF320,000).
FIRST EDITION. DELUXE COPY, WITH THE PAINTINGS ON VELLUM, OF THE RAREST OF ALL BIRD BOOKS. The whole edition, including the normal copies with the paintings on paper, is traditionally limited to 60 (or 66?) sets. The standard natural history bibliographies do not mention copies on vellum, there is an entry by Lowndes "On Vellum. Four copies known" - however it is not clear whether this refers to the first or second edition.
This copy includes (in volume I) an extra painting of the female Shrike [?XXX*], and the 26 eggs depicted on 7 plates in the normal issues are here shown on 13 plates. The following bird paintings have been neatly excised: plate CVIII Stone Chat; CIX Whin Chat; CLVIII Common Snipe; CLXII Jadreka Snipe; CCXIII Tarrock; CCLI Wigeon; CCLII Shoveler.
Lewin was born in Stepney, London. By his mid-twenties he seems to have been making his living as a designer of textile patterns, by his mid-thirties he was describing himself as a "painter". In the early or mid-1780s Lewin painted a few copies of the watercolour catalogue of the dowager duchess of Portland's collection of birds' eggs, but his main work, to which he devoted the last six years of his life was The Birds of Great Britain. The enormous amount of effort required to produce the circa 19,000 paintings took its toll - the later plates are generally of poorer quality than the earlier ones. However, the quality of these paintings on vellum does seem to be consistently higher: a comparison between the paper version (lot ?) and the vellum version reveals a much more painstaking approach, as well as occasional interesting variations in the postures of the birds. Cf. Lowndes II,p.1351. (7)