A & C Black
£1,315
Printed Books, Maps and Manuscripts
Auction: 11 July 2006 at 12:00 BST
Description
A collection of volumes from various series by A & C Black, to include; Twenty Shillings 30 volumes by various authors/ illustrators. London 1901-1916, 8vo, colour plates, all in original decorative cloth, some sunning and rubbing, Venice lacking backstrip; Ten Shillings 3 volumes by various authors. London, 1906-1909, 8vo, colour plates, all in original decorative cloth, some sunning and rubbing to edges; Seven shillings & sixpence 11 volumes by various authors. London, 1904-1912, 8vo, colour plates, all in original decorative cloth, sunning and rubbing, some foxing, staining; Deluxe 7s 6d Butler, E. Letters from the Holy Land. London, 1908, 8vo, number 68 of 250 copies, signed by author,16 colour plates, original decorative cream cloth gilt, backstrip discoloured, endpapers browned, ink inscription to front endpaper, foxing; Six shillings 2 volumes. London, 1907-1908, 8vo, colour plates, original decorative cloth, slight rubbing; Peeps 5 volumes from the various Peeps series. London, 1908-1915, 8vo, colour plates, original decorative cloth with pasted colour image to upper board of each, rubbing; Menpes Crown China. London, 1909, 8vo, colour plates, original blue cloth gilt, slight rubbing to edges, interior clean; New Series 4 volumes by various others. London, 1924-1928, 8vo, colour plates, original blind-stamped blue cloth gilt, rubbed at edges and 6 other volumes unrecorded in bibliography (63)
Footnote
Note: The publishing company A&C Black was founded in Edinburgh in 1807, moving to Soho Square in London in 1889. In 1901 the firm accepted the suggestion of Mortimer Menpes to produce an illustrated work based on his experiences in the Boer War using a new three-colour printing process, War Impressions became the first issue in the Twenty Shillings series.
One of the over-riding themes of this series of colour plate books was travel. Watercolours by a variety of well-known artists allowed the reader to view the world from the comfort of home, in a period when travelling abroad was difficult and expensive. The combination of the attractive cloth bindings and the high-quality colour images made these volumes both intellectually and visually stimulating. The "Twenty-Shilling" series would have been a luxury item at the turn of the century - when £1 was the average weekly wage of a skilled labourer. This led the publishers to produce variety of lower-priced more accessible series following the same aesthetic principles.
Literature: Inman, Colin. The A&C Black Colour Books. London, 1990.
Twenty Shilling Series
Omond, G. Belgium. London, 1908, 8vo, original black and yellow cloth, slight rubbing, endpapers browned [Inman 5]
Bonhote, J.L. Birds of Britain. London, 1907, 8vo, original decorative orange cloth, some foxing [Inman 6]
Menpes, M. Brittany. London, 1905, 8vo, original purple cloth gilt, backstrip faded, some foxing [Inman 8]
Talbot Kelly, R. Burma. London, 1905, 8vo, original cloth gilt, backstrip faded [Inman 10]
Munro, Neil The Clyde. London, 1907, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt [Inman 14]
Talbot Kelly, R. Egypt. London, 1903 [reprint], original blue cloth gilt, backstrip discoloured [Inman 19]
Huish, Marcus Happy England. London, 1903, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt, some rubbing to edges [Inman 22]
Goff, Mrs. Florence. London, 1905, 8vo, original red cloth gilt, discolouration to backstrip [Inman 27]
Dickie, J.F. Germany. London, 1912, 8vo, original brown cloth, rubbing [Inman 31]
Varley, T. Hampshire. London, 1909, 8vo, original green and pink cloth [Inman 34]
Jungman, N. Holland. London, 1904, original blue cloth gilt, backstrip discoloured [Inman 35]
Kelman, John The Holy Land. London, 1902, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt [Inman 36]
Mathew, Francis Ireland. London, 1912. Second edition, original green cloth, chipped at head and tail of backstrip, some foxing [Inman 42]
Bagot, Richard The Italian Lakes. London, 1905, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt, rubbed, corners bumped, foxing [Inman 44]
Menpes, M. Japan. London, 1901, 8vo original blue cloth gilt, slight rubbing [Inman 46]
Gilbey, Sir Walter George Morland. London, 1907, 8vo, original decorative cloth, upper board wrinkled, foxing [Inman 56]
Bensusan, S.L. Morocco. London, 1904, 8vo, original yellow and blue cloth, some discolouring to backstrip [Inman 57]
Swinburne, H.L. The Royal Navy. London, 1907, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt, rubbed [Inman 59]
Jungman, N. Norway. London, 1905, 8vo, original green cloth gilt, rubbing [Inman 62]
Hardie, M. John Pettie. London, 1908, 8vo, original brown cloth gilt, some discolouration to backstrip [Inman 65]
Pisa, Alberto Rome. London1905, 8vo, 2 copies, original blue cloth, faded and rubbed
Moncrieff, A.R. Hope Bonnie Scotland. London, 1904, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt [Inman 71]
Musson, Spencer Sicily. London, 1911, 8vo, original grey floral cloth gilt [Inman 72]
Menpes, M. The Thames. London, 1906, 8vo, original grey cloth gilt [Inman 80]
Menpes, M. Venice. London, 1916, 8vo, original cloth, lacking backstrip [Inman 83]
Menpes, M. War Impressions. London, 1901, 8vo, original green cloth gilt [Inman 85]
Henderson, John The West Indies. London, 1905, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt, backstrip sunned [Inman 89]
Menpes, D. World's Children. London, 1903, 8vo, original blue cloth gilt, backstrip rubbed and sunned, some loose plates [Inman 90]
Menpes, D. World Pictures. London, 1903, 8vo, original red cloth gilt, backstrip sunned, some loose pages [Inman 91]