[Rarebooks] fa: JOHN RUSKIN - SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE 1849 - INSCRIBED PRESENTATION COPY

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, September 28. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/ng4g4xr

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

John Ruskin: The Seven Lamps of Architecture. With Illustrations, Drawn and Etched by the Author. London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1849. FIRST EDITION. Small 4to (27 cm) in original publisher's embossed cloth, housed in a custom clamshell box with morocco spine and patterned boards; 205 pp., 14 plates with tissue guards; publisher's catalogue bound in at end.

The first of Ruskin's works to bear his name, with fourteen plates etched by the author himself, INSCRIBED BY RUSKIN in pencil on the front free endpaper: "Rev. C.[?] Moore from his friend The Author." Loosely laid in is a hand-written letter from the antiquarian booksellers Pickering & Chatto to collector John Lowe, which reads: "Ruskin. Seven Lamps of Architecture. This is to confirm that this copy, inscribed by the author, was no. 244 in the exhibition of Le Livre Anglais held at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris 1951." Lowe's small  book label is tipped on to the book's front pastedown, his initials in gilt are at the foot of the clamshell box.

Original publisher's binding shows wear and chipping to the joints and extremities; front inner hinge cracked with the text block somewhat shaken but secure; bump to the top fore-corner of the text block; mild toning to the leaves with some darkening to the edges and occasional light spotting to the top margins of the plates. The handsome clamshell box shows some sunning to the morocco spine, a touch of wear to the corners, otherwise very clean and sharp. The book is complete with the 16-page publisher's catalogue bound in at the end, with the additional slip announcing: "In Preparation, The Stones of Venice."