Details
HOLBEIN, Hans, the Younger. Imitations of Original Drawings by Hans Holbein in the collection of His Majesty, for the portraits of illustrious persons of the court of Henry VII. London: W. Bulmer and Co. for John Chamberlaine, 1792 [-1800]. With: Hans HOLBEIN. [The Court of Francis II] N.p.: n.d.
Large 2° (544 x 412mm). Title to the first work, dedication, advertisement, list of portraits, 92 STIPPLE-ENGRAVED PLATES PRINTED IN COLOUR, several finished by hand, all but 4 by F. Bartolozzi after Holbein, 10 in the state before letters, 24 mounted on card. (Four of the plates on india paper, mounted, with short tears along platemark, plate of Jane Seymour just trimmed into plate-mark area at top margin, not affecting image.) 19th-century half red morocco, spine gilt in seven compartments, black leather lettering-piece in one, the others with stylised floral and foliate tools, g.e. (lightly rubbed and scuffed).
FIRST EDITIONS OF BOTH WORKS. The first work comprises 84 plates, and "is surely the finest early example of English color printing" (Ray). The plates were issued in parts comprising fourteen plates, with their "biographical tracts" written by Edmund Lodge: each part cost 36 guineas. The first fourteen plates were not originally included in the scope of the work: plates 3-14 are anonymous, and so without biographies. The four plates not engraved by Bartolozzi are by Metz (3) and Knight (1). In this copy, some plates are on India paper, some on thick paper, in a variety of colours and tints. The second work comprises 8 plates, and is all that was published of an intended continuation to the Imitations. Abbey notes that probably "no copies were issued to the public until the stock was acquired many years later by Messrs. Bohn, who added them as a Supplement to copies of the earlier work". Only the first four plate have biographies: the present copy has not title or any other text. The plates in this copy are all on white or tinted paper, and lettered: the fifth plate, unidentified by Abbey, is of Mons. de Pienne l'Ainé. Abbey Life 205 and 206; Ray English 19.
Large 2° (544 x 412mm). Title to the first work, dedication, advertisement, list of portraits, 92 STIPPLE-ENGRAVED PLATES PRINTED IN COLOUR, several finished by hand, all but 4 by F. Bartolozzi after Holbein, 10 in the state before letters, 24 mounted on card. (Four of the plates on india paper, mounted, with short tears along platemark, plate of Jane Seymour just trimmed into plate-mark area at top margin, not affecting image.) 19th-century half red morocco, spine gilt in seven compartments, black leather lettering-piece in one, the others with stylised floral and foliate tools, g.e. (lightly rubbed and scuffed).
FIRST EDITIONS OF BOTH WORKS. The first work comprises 84 plates, and "is surely the finest early example of English color printing" (Ray). The plates were issued in parts comprising fourteen plates, with their "biographical tracts" written by Edmund Lodge: each part cost 36 guineas. The first fourteen plates were not originally included in the scope of the work: plates 3-14 are anonymous, and so without biographies. The four plates not engraved by Bartolozzi are by Metz (3) and Knight (1). In this copy, some plates are on India paper, some on thick paper, in a variety of colours and tints. The second work comprises 8 plates, and is all that was published of an intended continuation to the Imitations. Abbey notes that probably "no copies were issued to the public until the stock was acquired many years later by Messrs. Bohn, who added them as a Supplement to copies of the earlier work". Only the first four plate have biographies: the present copy has not title or any other text. The plates in this copy are all on white or tinted paper, and lettered: the fifth plate, unidentified by Abbey, is of Mons. de Pienne l'Ainé. Abbey Life 205 and 206; Ray English 19.