BRITTON, John (1771-1857). The History and Antiquities of the Metropolitical church of Canterbury . London: C. Whittingham for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, the author, and Joseph Taylor 1821. 5 parts bound in one volume, 4° (295 x 227mm). Engraved frontispiece by John Le Keux after George Cattermole engraved additional title by Le Keux after Cattermole, 24 engraved plates by Le Keux, James Carter William Deeble E. Gladwin, George Gladwin, Higham, J.F. Lambert, Robert Sands Henry Winkles, W. Winkles after Cattermole, G.L. Taylor and Edward Cresy. EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with 4 hand-coloured pen-and-ink elevations and plans of the cathedral, a sheet of pen-and-ink drawings of architectural details, and an 18th-century engraved plan of the cathedral, all laid down onto the final binder's blanks and an autograph letter signed from G.L. Taylor to Britton, Athenaeum [Club, London], 17 August, 8°, 2pp tipped onto the front free endpaper. (Occasional light spotting and marking, light marginal staining affecting 4 plates, traces of removed sheet on one binder's blank, letter and drawings browned.) Contemporary straight-grained morocco-backed marbled boards [endpapers watermarked '1827'], spine gilt in compartments, lettered in one, original printed wrappers for parts I-IV bound in at the end (some rubbing, board-edges bumped, upper hinge split, spine chipped and with short splits). Provenance : John Britton (letter to Britton and inscription noting provenance) -- 'Knock Sep. 1863 bought with C.J.B. Sep. 3. sent home Sep. 5.' (inscription) -- Chas H.M. Mileham (inscription) -- Courtenay M. Cuckmere (inscription). FIRST EDITION, BOUND UP FROM THE PARTS. BRITTON'S OWN COPY, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH 5 ORIGINAL DRAWINGS OF THE CATHEDRAL. Two of the drawings bound in at the end appear to be preparatory to plate V, and are presumably by Edward Cresy and G.L. Taylor, whose measured drawings for the Canterbury volume of Britton's sequence of works entitled Cathedral Antiquities of England '"rescued the series" following the disappointing drop in quality of the "Oxford" volume' (RIBA), and four of them have been coloured to indicate the different periods of building. Taylor's letter thanks Britton for both lending him the volume, and the verses which he enclosed. This copy has been annotated in pencil on both text and plates, presumably by Britton, in anticipation of a second, revised edition, and plates VIII, XII, and XVI are proofs before letters and numbers (Lowndes notes that some copies were issued with proofs). The work was issued in 3 formats: medium quarto, imperial quarto and super-royal folio; this is the medium quarto issue. Lowndes p.278; RIBA 399.
BRITTON, John (1771-1857). The History and Antiquities of the Metropolitical church of Canterbury . London: C. Whittingham for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, the author, and Joseph Taylor 1821. 5 parts bound in one volume, 4° (295 x 227mm). Engraved frontispiece by John Le Keux after George Cattermole engraved additional title by Le Keux after Cattermole, 24 engraved plates by Le Keux, James Carter William Deeble E. Gladwin, George Gladwin, Higham, J.F. Lambert, Robert Sands Henry Winkles, W. Winkles after Cattermole, G.L. Taylor and Edward Cresy. EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with 4 hand-coloured pen-and-ink elevations and plans of the cathedral, a sheet of pen-and-ink drawings of architectural details, and an 18th-century engraved plan of the cathedral, all laid down onto the final binder's blanks and an autograph letter signed from G.L. Taylor to Britton, Athenaeum [Club, London], 17 August, 8°, 2pp tipped onto the front free endpaper. (Occasional light spotting and marking, light marginal staining affecting 4 plates, traces of removed sheet on one binder's blank, letter and drawings browned.) Contemporary straight-grained morocco-backed marbled boards [endpapers watermarked '1827'], spine gilt in compartments, lettered in one, original printed wrappers for parts I-IV bound in at the end (some rubbing, board-edges bumped, upper hinge split, spine chipped and with short splits). Provenance : John Britton (letter to Britton and inscription noting provenance) -- 'Knock Sep. 1863 bought with C.J.B. Sep. 3. sent home Sep. 5.' (inscription) -- Chas H.M. Mileham (inscription) -- Courtenay M. Cuckmere (inscription). FIRST EDITION, BOUND UP FROM THE PARTS. BRITTON'S OWN COPY, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH 5 ORIGINAL DRAWINGS OF THE CATHEDRAL. Two of the drawings bound in at the end appear to be preparatory to plate V, and are presumably by Edward Cresy and G.L. Taylor, whose measured drawings for the Canterbury volume of Britton's sequence of works entitled Cathedral Antiquities of England '"rescued the series" following the disappointing drop in quality of the "Oxford" volume' (RIBA), and four of them have been coloured to indicate the different periods of building. Taylor's letter thanks Britton for both lending him the volume, and the verses which he enclosed. This copy has been annotated in pencil on both text and plates, presumably by Britton, in anticipation of a second, revised edition, and plates VIII, XII, and XVI are proofs before letters and numbers (Lowndes notes that some copies were issued with proofs). The work was issued in 3 formats: medium quarto, imperial quarto and super-royal folio; this is the medium quarto issue. Lowndes p.278; RIBA 399.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
