[Rarebooks] FS: 1796 Dossie 'Handmaid to the Arts' -Vol.1.

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

TITLE: “The Handmaid to the Arts. In two volumes. Volume I”

By Robert Dossie.
Printed in London for A. Millar, W. Law and R. Cater and for Wilson,
Spence, and Mawman, York, in 1796. New edition, with considerable
additions and improvements.

DISCUSSION: Robert Dossie [1717-1777] was an apothecary who moved from
Sheffield to London, and helped found the Society for the Encouragement of
Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in 1754. In her essay, “The Creation of
Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe”, Sarah Lowengard writes-

“Robert Dossie was a rigorous advocate for the advantages of improved
public knowledge. His training as an apothecary brought experience with
chemistry to his understanding of the use of sciences to achieve this goal
in artisan endeavors. Dossie's studies ranged wide, as fit his curiosity
and his position, literally within the Society of Arts and more
figuratively within its liberal community of artists, artisans,
manufacturers, aristocrats, and folk. Dossie compiled, tested and wrote
about procedures and materials of that amorphous category "arts." The
Handmaid to the Arts, Dossie's publication of that information, instructs
the reader in multiple techniques of painting and engraving, papermaking,
and japanning. As a resource, it was well regarded by eighteenth- and
early-nineteenth-century artisans and it continues to be a standard
reference for practical techniques of that era... The contents are grouped
according to techniques employed as well as by the media to which they
might be applied. Within that framework, working from the general to the
more specific, Dossie included materials and processes involving detailed
recipes, with annotations and directions for appropriate use. In a format
that seems almost Linnean at times, The Handmaid to the Arts included
information about coloring materials—pigments, dyes, and enamels—as well
as coloring techniques. The bringing together of all recipes for one
color, or all recipes containing or used for a specific material,
simplified and clarified the task of the reader.”

DESCRIPTION: Hardcover. 4.25”x7”, [xxv] + 344 pages. Period polished calf.

CONDITION NOTES: Covers worn, front cover almost detached. Some internal
spotting and foxing.

PRICE: $375-

SOME PICTURES =>

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