[Rarebooks] fs: Arts, Anecdotes & "Purification", 1834 & 1918

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

2 important editions, one "purified", one down and dirty...

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HISTORY OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN IN THE UNITED STATES.

William Dunlap.
New York; George P. Scott and Co.: 1834.

There is actually not much need to pontificate at length upon the extreme 
importance of Dunlap's work -it is the granddaddy of all other historical 
surveys of the American arts, and in many ways the foundation upon which 
all subsequent studies have been based. If Dunlap had not recorded this 
information much, if not most of it, would have been irretrievably lost 
before other researchers got around to caring about the subject at the end 
of the nineteenth century. An invaluable reference for the student of 
American painters, sculptors and miniaturists.

Hardcover. 2 volumes. 6.25"x9.75", 433 + viii + 480 pages. Original board 
covers with patterned cloth spines; covers with moderate wear including 
some soil; spine heads and bases chipped; tips rounded; outer cloth on Vol. 
1 spine splitting; slightly shaken; moderate internal foxing, as is so 
often the case. [03048] $500.00

Picture -<http://www.joslinhall.com/th-03048.jpg>


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Dunlap, William. A HISTORY OF THE RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE ARTS OF DESIGN 
IN THE UNITED STATES.

Boston; C.E. Goodspeed & Co.: 1918. 2nd, revised edition.

First published in 1834, this is a dramatically augmented and revised 
edition of this seminal work. The question of this second edition, as 
edited by Frank W. Bayley and Charles E. Goodspeed, as an improvement over 
the first is a hard one, not because there is not a host of new and 
corrected material, there is, but rather because the editors also deleted 
material. As they note in their preface-

     "The peculiar nature of Dunlap's work -its' faulty composition, 
irregular orthography, duplications, irrelevancies and prolixity- have made 
the editors' office a difficult one".

Well, perhaps they overstate a bit, but they certainly have made the book a 
much more useful tool for the art historian and enthusiast. Unfortunately, 
in the process of doing this, in some sort of ill-advised late-Edwardian 
fit of "purification", they deleted material they judged "irrelevant"-

     "If the reader of the first edition should in this one miss some 
passages, including a few extraneous anecdotes of Stuart and Jarvis, verses 
by Allston, a technical treatise on miniature painting by Cummings, and 
various notes of small value or ephemeral interest, we trust he will find 
the new matter, far exceeding these omissions in importance, a sufficient 
compensation".

Well, quite frankly -no. The new material is wonderful, but we wanted those 
extraneous anecdotes about Stuart as well, and will certainly miss 
Cummings' technical notes on miniature painting. Oh well, in every new 
edition a little rain must fall... but I want my Allston verses back! 3 
volumes. 6.5"x9.5", xiv + 391 pages; xi + 403 pages; xi + 418 pages; many 
b/w plates throughout. Publisher's green ribbed cloth with gilt titles; top 
edges gilt; untrimmed fore-edges. Some general light soil and a little 
dustiness; text slightly browned, a few tips bumped. [04999] $250.00

Picture-
<http://www.joslinhall.com/images03/th-04999.jpg>



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