Bible Macklin (5 results)

Hardcover. Condition: VERY GOOD. First Edition. First edition of The Macklin Bible, a masterpiece of book design that has been called 'the last of the great Bibles.' Complete in six volumes without the posthumously published Apocrypha. Elephant Folio, 19' x 15.5' and . Full red morocco, covers with gilt rolled Greek meander borders, spines with double raised bands gilt in seven compartments, all edges gilt, gilt dentelle, marbled endpapers. Sturdy bindings are remarkably solid despite the demands of these heavy textblocks. Very Good, ex-libris from the John Wilson Collection of Multnomah County Library with small bookplates on paste downs, a few penciled notes to versos of title pages but otherwise unmarked. Wide margins. Bindings scuffed and soiled, rubbed along joints, wear at heads and tails. Contents generally bright with typical offsetting from engravings; many tissue guards still present. Handwritten 2pp. 1889 note from London bookseller Henry Sotheran tipped-in to Vol. 1, wherein he apologizes for the lack of The Apocrypha, which was published in 1816. Exhaustively illustrated throughout with engravings including 70 full-page copperplates after Benjamin West, Angelica Kauffman, Henry Fuseli, William Artaud, Joshua Reynolds, Philip James de Loutherbourg and others. Weighing in at well over 100 lbs, this Macklin Bible will ship in multiple boxes and will require additional fees for international delivery.

7 volume set [48 cm] Contemporary calf with decorative gilt stamped borders to boards with raised and gilt bands to backstrips. All edges gilt. Marbled endsheets and pastedowns. Some minor wear to corners. Some foxing to the plates. A few small dampstains. Some wear to backstrips and boards. The Macklin Bible is the largest Bible printed on a letterpress. Published serially between 1791 and 1800 in London, this project was of one several ambitious projects that commissioned paintings of literary subjects, exhibited them at their premises, and sold engravings, and/or editions of the relevant text including the engravings, after the paintings by subscription. These 'literary galleries' sought to be both commercial printselling projects for the proprietors, and to foster British history painting, aligning with the ambitions of the Royal Academy to encourage a native school of painting in this genre. The foremost literary gallery was Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, which operated between 1789 and 1805. In addition to its 70 full-page plates, the Bible includes head and tailpieces for each biblical book - 113 in total. All but two of the vignettes were designed by Philippe-Jacques de Loutherbourg, who also painted 16 pictures for the full-page plates. The full-page plates and headpiece and tailpiece vignettes were published by Macklin, and the text was printed for Macklin by Thomas Bensley. The type was cut by Joseph Jackson and Vincent Figgins, Jackon's apprentice. The paper was made by Whatman. The instructions to the binder recommended binding the set in six volumes, but this set, like many others, was bound in seven. Darlow & Moule 982. ESTC T123175. Herbert 1442.

7 vols. Large folio (47.25 x 38 cm). Contemporary blue straight-grain morocco by C. Meyer, sides ruled in gilt with decorative fillet and roll borders, spine with raised bands and gilt in compartments, brown coated endpapers, all edges gilt and with some gauffering. Engrave title and 70 full-page engraved plates after Fuseli, Reynolds, Kauffman, Hamilton, West, etc., plus numerous vignette head- and tail-pieces. Ex libris Gaddesden Library with their armourial bookplate to front-pastedown of each volume. Joints to volume one with professional restorations, occasional light offsetting and spotting, generally a fine example of this landmark edition of the bible. The most prodigious form of scripture in English ever published, the Macklin Bible features large and bold type, fine Whatman paper, and a series of engravings by some of the most celebrated artists of the time. Macklin announced his plan to produce a lavishly illustrated, luxuriously produced folio Bible in 1789, and he spent the next 11 years making his dream a reality, though it proved a costly endeavour. He paid Reynolds £500 for his Holy Family, and William Sharp £700 for its engraving. The average cost for 45 of the Bible's other engravings was £220, and the total cost of the publication was an estimated £30,000 (approximately £4,500,000 in today's money). His efforts paid off: "the subscription list for 703 copies at £46 1s. apiece was headed by the King, the Queen, and the Prince of Wales" (DNB). Macklin died just five days after the last engraving was finished, and did not see his masterpiece become one of the most acclaimed English Bibles. "The Macklin Bible endures as the most ambitious edition produced in Britain, often pirated but never rivalled" (DNB). A further volume of the Apocrypha was published in 1816.

First Macklin edition of the Bible, handsomely bound. "The most ambitious edition produced in Britain, often pirated but never rivalled" (ODNB), this Bible is a masterpiece of book art, published at the apogee of British copperplate engraving and involving some of the best artists of its day. The Bible, dedicated to the king, was published serially between 1791 and 1800 in 70 parts, each at £1. 1s. Thomas Macklin (1752-1800) began work on the project in the year following the opening of his famous Poets' Gallery in Pall Mall. The prospectus, issued in 1789, explained that he was planning to add scripture pictures to his exhibition, to be then reproduced in a "magnificent Bible". The paintings were realised by several artists including Hamilton, Fuseli, and Loutherbourg, and exhibited at the Poets' Gallery between 1790 and 1796. Initially promising 60 plates, the project eventually included 71, some of which never appeared in Macklin's exhibitions. Most of the headpiece and tailpiece vignettes were designed by Loutherbourg, the type was cut by Joseph Jackson and his apprentice Vincent Figgins, and the paper made by Whatman. The Bible took 11 years to complete and the publication costs, exceeding £30,000, almost bankrupted Macklin. Though the final engraving was finished five days before his death, the last of the vignettes was not completed for another six weeks, and he consequently never saw the finished work. Some copies of the Bible were bound in a fine neoclassical style by contemporary London binders, particularly Staggemeier and Welcher. This set is unsigned, but the treatment of the spine appears closer to the work of Kalthoeber (see Maggs Cat. 1212, II, no. 164). This set is bound in six volumes, as recommended in the instructions to the binder (vol. I). However, sets are sometimes found bound in seven. ESTC T123175; Herbert 1441; Lowndes I, p. 192. Maggs Bros Ltd, Bookbinding in the British Isles, Sixteenth to the Twentieth Century, Cat. 1212, Part II, 1996. 6 vols, large folio (458 x 370 mm). With 71 copper engraved plates after Fuseli and others, 113 wood engraved vignette head- and tailpieces. Contemporary diced russia, spines with raised bands, compartments lettered and tooled in gilt, elaborate gilt frames to covers incorporating foliate and flower tools, board edges and turn-ins tooled in gilt, leather inner hinges, marbled endpapers, edges gilt, silk bookmarkers. Bound with half-titles. A few trivial marks and light scuffs to covers, small cosmetic repair to rear cover of vol. I, superficial splits to a couple of joints, subsequently retouched and now firm, occasional foxing to contents and offsetting from plates, else clean and bright. A very good set.

First Printing of this Edition. 484 x 390 mm. (19 x 15 1/4"). Seven volumes. Once splendid contemporary black straight-grain morocco, gilt, covers framed by Greek key roll, palmette roll, and multiple gilt rules, double raised bands, spine compartments densely gilt with rows of alternating star and circlet tools, gilt titling, turn-ins with gilt chain roll, purple endpapers, all edges gilt (some inexpert but not obvious repairs to joints and backstrips). With more than 100 allegorical headpieces and tailpieces and some 70 SPLENDID LARGE-FOLIO SIZE COPPER PLATES after Fuseli, Reynolds, West, and others. Herbert 1442 and 1651. âExtremities rather rubbed, boards a bit scuffed, but the decorative contemporaneous bindings solid and not without appeal. Plates somewhat foxed (mostly to margins), mild to moderate offsetting from plates, occasional mild offsetting in the text bed, but still a fresh, wide-margined copy. The most prodigious form of scripture in English ever published, the Macklin Bible features very large and bold type, fine Whatman paper, and a series of engravings by some of the most celebrated artists of the period. Like the Boydell "Shakespeare Gallery" (also printed by Bensley), our Macklin Bible is a vast picture book with illustrations that are grand both in size and emotional impact. According to DNB, Macklin (1752/3-1800) announced his intention to produce a lavishly illustrated, luxuriously produced folio Bible in 1789, and he spent the next 11 years and £30,000 making his dream a reality. His efforts paid off: "the subscription list for 703 copies at £46 1s. apiece was headed by the king, the queen, and the prince of Wales." Sadly, Macklin died just five days after the last engraving was finished, and did not live to see his masterpiece become one of the most acclaimed English Bibles. As DNB observes, "The Macklin Bible endures as the most ambitious edition produced in Britain, often pirated but never rivalled." Copies of the Macklin Bible were often put into ornate bindings, as was the present set; despite the depradations of time, the workmanship of a superior London binder remains apparent.