[Rarebooks] fa: HISTORY OF THE ART OF PRINTING 1868 • H. Noel Humphreys • Folio/Plates/INSCRIBED

[ArCh]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, November 12. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/ybbt4dbo <http://tinyurl.com/ybbt4dbo>

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


Henry Noel Humphreys: A History of the Art of Printing from Its invention to its wide-spread development in the middle of the sixteenth century. Preceded by a short account of the Origin of the Alphabet, and of the successive methods of recording events before the invention of printing… Illustrated by 100 fac-similes in photolithography, executed under the direction of the author. London: Bernard Quaritch, 1868. Folio in original publisher's cloth with beveled edges, decorated in gilt, black and blind; rebacked with the original spine laid down; [iii]-xii, [2], 216 pp; with 106 color and black-and-white plates.

The second issue, following a limited edition of 300 numbered copies. After this "small second issue," according to the publisher, "the stones are guaranteed then to be destroyed." Presentation copy, INSCRIBED by the author to "Chas. Warden Esq." in the year of publication. Binding with some rubbing and darkening, rubbing and wear to the extremities and rear joint; one plate (no. 14) inexplicably defaced, with a section excised by a razor blade, now patched with a color facsimile (see fifth photo above); one black and white plate neatly detached but present; otherwise the contents are very good: occasional light scattered spotting, but generally quite clean and bright. Humphreys' text is, reportedly, not without its errors, but the real attraction here is the splendid lithograph plates. A handsome production.