Beschreibung:

PYNE, William Henry (1769-1843). The History of the Royal Residences . London: L. Harrison for A. Dry, 1819. 3 volumes, large 4° (343 x 275mm). 100 hand-coloured aquatint plates by T. Sutherland, R. Reeve, W.J. Bennett, D. Havell and J. Baily after C. Wild, J. Stephanoff, R. Cattermole, W. Westall and G. Samuel. Contemporary crimson morocco gilt, the covers with broad and narrow floriate borders, spines in six compartments with five raised bands, green morocco lettering-pieces in two, a dense floral panel in the remaining, gilt edges, by J. Wright; morocco-faced slipcases. Provenance : Count V.V. Levashov (1783-1848, Adjutant General who fought at Austerlitz and Leipzig, and a prosecutor of the Decemberists; bookplate) -- Arthur Pforzheimer (pencil note on rear flyleaf in vol. I dated 1935) -- acquired from Alwin Scheuer, New York, 1935. A SUPERLATIVE COPY of the most ambitious aquatint book to be published on English interiors, though exteriors are also shown. The present set is coloured in a most vibrant and precise style, with plates heightened in gold and remarkable attention to detail. Shadows, plays of light, subtle gradations are all drawn out in unusually beautiful ways. Its fine morocco binding and exceptional colouring were no doubt carefully selected for Count Levashov. St. James's Palace and Carlton House form the subject of volume III, and while the former had been badly burned in 1809, the 20 plates devoted to the Prince Regent's residence show what were regarded as the most spectacular interiors in Regency London. Abbey Scenery 396; Ray 42; Tooley 389.