1847 The Etching Club: Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 1stEd Folio

Description: 1847 The Etching Club: Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 1stEd Folio ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD BY THOMAS GRAY illustrated by THE ETCHING CLUB John Bell, Charles West Cope, Thomas Creswick, John Callcott Horsely, Richard Redgrave, Charles Stonhouse, Frederick Tayler, Henry James Townsend London, Published for the Etching Club by J. Cundall. 1847. Original edition. Hardcover. Three quarter leather, ribbed spine with glit lettering, all edges gilt, folio (14 x 11 inches), marbled endpapers and pastedowns, 21 un-numbered leaves printed on one side only including; Title , Dedication, and Contents pages, followed by 28 etchings on 18 plates. The etchings are printed on very thin proof paper, mounted on stiff card stock (Chine collé techinque). All plates are marked “PROOF” at the lower margins. Seventeen of the etchings are signed in the plates, the rest appear unsigned. The front endpaper is inscribed by the original owner, the 19th century Engraver/Art Dealer SAMUEL P. AVERY (see below): “Presented to the “Century” [Club]/ by S. P. Avery – 1890”. The book is dedicated by permission to to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The volume includes the text of the popular poem accompanied by original etchings executed by members of the Etching Club. Proof Plate I. - Etched by T. Creswick. Thomas Creswick RA (5 February 1811 – 28 December 1869) was an English landscape painter and illustrator, and one of the best-known members of the Birmingham School of landscape painters. Proof Plate II. - The first etching is by C. Stonehouse and the 2nd is by T. Creswick. Proof Plate III. - The etching of a church and graveyard at night is by T. Creswick. Proof Plate IV. - The first of the two etching on the plate is by R. Redgrave and the second was etched by H. J. Townsend. Richard Redgrave (30 April 1804 - 14 December 1888) was well-known in his day as a painter, but is now remembered as the first principal of the Government School of Design, now the Royal College of Art. He was a founder-member of the Etching Club and was its secretey until 1845. He exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the Royal Institute (previously the New Water-colour Society). Henry James Townsend (1810-1890) was also an English artist. Proof Plate V. - The first of the two etchings on this Plate is by C. W. Cope, ARA, and the second was etched by R. Redgrave, ARA. Charles West Cope (1811-1890) was an English Victorian era painter of genre and history scenes, and an etcher. He was responsible for painting several frescos in the House of Lords in London. Proof Plate VI. - The first of the two etchings on this Plate is by C. W. Cope, ARA, and the second was etched by R. Redgrave, ARA. Proof Plate VII. - The etching is by Frederick Tayler. (John) Frederick Tayler (1802-1889) was a 19th century English landscape watercolour painter, and President of the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours. Proof Plate VIII. - The first of the two etchings on this Plate is by R. Redgrave and the second is by C. Stonhouse. Proof Plate IX. - The first of the two etchings on the plate is by R. Redgrave and the second is by H. J. Townsend. Proof Plate X - The etching is by C. W. Cope. Proof Plate XI. - The first of the two etchings on the plate is of an angel flying with her hands covering her face. It is by by John Bell. The second etching is a drawing of a man being placed in a coffin. It is by H. J. Townsend. Proof Plate XII. - The first of the two etchings on this Plate is by J. C. Horsley. John C. Horsley (1817-1903) was an English Academic painter of genre and historical scenes, illustrator, and designer of the first Christmas Card. He was a member of the artist's colony in Cranbrook. The second, a small etching, is by C. W. Cope. Proof Plate XIII. - This etching of an injured soldier with his family was done by R. Redgrave. Proof Plate XIV. - The etching of a mother and child reading was done by J. C. Horsley. Proof Plate IX. - There are. The first of the two etchings on this Plate, a beautiful sunrise over the water, is by T. Creswick. The second, is of a man laying by a tree near a creek. Proof Plate XV. - T There are two etchings on this Plate. The first of a beautiful sunrise over the water is by T. Creswick. The second, is of a man laying by a tree near a creek by C. Stonhouse. Both are terrific etchings. Proof Plate XVI. - The first of the two etchings on this Plate is by C. W. Cope. The second, is of a sunrise over a field by T. Creswick. Proof Plate XVII. - This etching of a funeral procession is by J. C. Horsley. Proof Plate XVIII. - "The Epitaph" – A detailed etching of a tombstone on which is written the epitaph of the poem. It was done by R. Redgrave. The Etching Club (also known as Etching Club, the London Etching Club, and the British Etching Club; or the Junior Etching Club for its younger membership grouped separately) was an artists' society founded in London, England, in 1838 by Charles West Cope. The club published illustrated editions of works by authors such as Oliver Goldsmith, Shakespeare, John Milton and Thomas Gray. It effectively ceased to exist in 1878. Samuel Putnam Avery had been for nearly forty years one of the Century brotherhood, and none among us in that time more richly filled the constitutional qualification in his love of letters and of art. An old New Yorker, born here of New England parentage eighty-three years ago, he was closely and efficiently associated with a great number of the organizations for the enjoyment and promotion of these interests. In his youth he was an engraver on copper and on wood; then he became a publisher and illustrator, then a dealer and collector, and gradually a connoisseur, and was through all an intelligent and appreciative student and lover of art. It was through his agency and guidance that many of the fine private collections of this and other cities—notably those of the late Mr. [William Henry] Vanderbilt and Mr. [William Thompson] Walters—were enriched, especially in the line of the old Dutch masters and modern French landscape. His success in his profession—it may be called one—was due to his thoroughly trained judgment, his delicate and sure taste, and the courage of his convictions. He was himself a passionate but careful and systematic collector, and a most generous benefactor. His collection of some seventeen thousand prints, representing the labors of an ordinary lifetime, was given to the New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden foundations. Columbia has what is probably the best architectural library in the country, given by him as a memorial of his son. The Teachers College received from him a valuable library in memory of a daughter. He gave many precious volumes to the Academy of Medicine. His Oriental Collection is in the Metropolitan Museum. He was a frequent contributor to the Century Club. In every organization of the many with which he was connected—the Metropolitan Museum, the Public Library, the Grolier Club, the Sculpture Society, the Civil Service Reform Association,—he gave, with wonderful liberality, his counsel and aid, even more valuable than his other gifts. Quiet, modest, and retiring in his disposition, one needed to know him well to realize the breadth and refinement of his culture, the soundness and sureness of his judgment, the tenderness of his heart, the gentle firmness of his fidelity to high standards. Edward Cary 1905 Century Association Yearbook CONDITION: Good. Covers: The front board has a split at the spine joint but it is firmly attached. The leather of the bottom spine compartment is repaired. The board edges and corners have some wear and rubbing; the rear board has moderately worn corners and a small chip at the fore-edge. Contents: The front marbled and blank endpapers have chipped fore-corners. All of the leaves have a faint or light stain in the blank fore-margin, and in several of the plates the stain extends slightly into the impressed area but it is still far from the illustrations. All of the leaves and plates have very light or moderate foxing spots in the blank margins; in a few plates there are some small foxing spots in the impressed area far from the illustrations. Plate IV is complete but the card stock has crack along the fore margin. The binding is tight. All of the etchings are intact and clean. 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Price: 500 USD

Location: NJ

End Time: 2024-12-01T04:27:51.000Z

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