Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 2
Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana. Part 2
Lot Closed
July 21, 06:47 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Chippendale, Thomas
The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director. London: printed for the Author, 1754
Folio (464 x 278 mm). Half-title, title in red and black, engraved dedication to the Earl of Northumberland, 161 full-page engraved plates; some spotting and browning, numerous closed tears expertly repaired, a few leaves backed with paper, plate LXXVI with marginal loss. Full early brown calf, gilt crest device to boards, edges gilt; rebacked, some staining, endpapers renewed. In a custom cloth-covered drop back box.
First edition of the most important published book of furniture designs in 18th-century England.
The present work made a great impact in America—and in Philadelphia in particular. Several copies are known to have been available there during the 1760s and, unsurprisingly, Chippendale's richly carved style had a pervasive influence on local cabinetmaking. The Director principally depicts four of Chippendale's most famous styles: English, French rococo, Chinoiserie, and Gothic. It was extensively used by furniture makers, making copies with the plates in good condition exceptional.
Robert Tyndall Hamilton Bruce, whom this copy belonged to, was an Edinburgh business man. His wealth was acquired through bakeries, and the design of his crest plays on this association (note the flour sacks). Bruce was Robert Louis Stevenson's childhood friend, and it was Bruce who put up the money for a weekly review, The Scots Observer, to be published from Edinburgh. It drew contributions from J.R. Barrie, Rudyard Kipling, Kenneth Grahame, and others, but it struggled to achieve economic stability, even after it was transferred to London as The National Observer.
REFERENCE:
Rothschild 614
PROVENANCE:
Robert Tyndall Hamilton Bruce ("Ride Thro Be Trew" devise to upper board)