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~19th-century full dark green morocco, ornate gilt frames to boards. Raised bands, gilt lettering, and dense gilt decor to spines. Gilt decor to board edges. Folio (26 x 33.5cm). Small scratches to boards of vol. II. Front hinge of vol. I tender but holding, other hinges sound. Gilt decor to boards bright and fresh. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Front endpapers of vol. I cracked at gutter. Rear endpapers of vol. II stuck together at base. Armorial bookplate of Malcolm of Poltalloch to inside front board of both vols, together with his small circular library label. John Wingfield Malcolm (1833-1902), soldier and MP, son of John Malcolm, 14th feudal baron of Poltalloch, Argyll, was created Lord Malcolm in 1896. The peerage became extinct on his death, but the feudal title of 'Malcolm of Poltalloch' still descends with the chieftainship of Clan Malcolm. Bookbinder's stamp of 'J. MacKenzie', to verso of front free endpaper. John Mackenzie (fl. 1788-c.1850) held the office of Bookbinder to both King George IV and King William IV and was known for his richly gilt morocco bindings. A little faint dampstaining to base of textblock in both vols, most evident in early pages of vol. II. Additional engraved title page per vol. Profusely illustrated with all 60 + 54 plates present as called for. Some scattered foxing and offsetting. 'A Glossary of Technical Terms Descriptive of Gothic Architecture', accompanying the 'Specimens' as is standard (bound into vol. II), has separate dated t.p. and is 3rd edn, 1825. The 'Specimens' are both 2nd edn, published the same year as the second volume of the 1st edn, 1823. The preface to the second edition in vol. I explains that this was due to a fire at J. Taylor's premises destroying all remaining copies of the 1st edn: 'the proprietors, notwithstanding their loss, have anxiously attended to various important improvements for the new edition' (p. v). This volume, the work of Auguste Charles Pugin (1768/9-1832; father of Augustus Pugin), who executed the plates, and Edward James Willson (1787-1854), who wrote the whole of the text and supplied the glossary, was a landmark in the revival of gothic architecture in Britain. 'So scarce still was detailed technical information on Gothic architecture that 'Specimens' and its succeeding volumes were repeated ad nauseam and the chimneys of Hampton Court, the pinnacles of York Minster and the oriel window of Magdalen College, Oxford, began to sprout all over England' (Hill, God's Architect, 2007, pp. 52-53). Pugin's precise drawings were well complemented by the accompanying text, the work of Willson, who had 'almost literally grown up in Lincoln cathedral, where his father was retained as a carpenter'. A 'cradle Catholic', his 'understanding of the Gothic was imbued with a romantic empathy for the buildings of the past and the society that had created them', and he believed that it was necessary for the would-be gothic architect to '"endeavour to think in the manner of the original inventors" (.) This was the view, or rather the vision, that (Augustus) Pugin would later adopt as his own' (Hill, p. 53, quoting Specimens, I, p. xx). Significant work in a handsome MacKenzie binding. ~Robust packaging. Overseas orders trackable on request. Size: xx, 44 + xxiv, 34, vi, 7-24pp., 114 plates. Seller Inventory # LL6254
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Specimens of Gothic Architecture; Selected ...
Publisher: J. Taylor, A. Pugin, & J. Britton, London
Publication Date: 1823
Binding: Hardback
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 2nd revised edition.
Book Type: Text block sound
