Lot 7
Interior Decoration - Jones, Owen
Rare Books, Maps & Manuscripts
Auction: 4 September 2013 at 12:00 BST
Description
The grammar of ornament. [London: Day & Son, 1856] Large folio (dimension of covers 567x380mm), chromolithographed title-page and 100 chromolithographic plates, red half morocco gilt with elaborately tooled gilt panel to upper cover, g.e., bookplate to paste-down endpaper, sellotape repairs to initial pages with no loss of text, a few pages loose, a little dust-soiling, covers and spine rubbed, upper joint split, upper board loose
Footnote
Note: Owen Jones famously declared that: "Form without colour is like a body without a soul." Jones's passion for design, colour, and the way in which the two combine is evident in his seminal publication, a work which is still being printed and used as a design sourcebook today. Jones travelled from the age of 23, when he visited Italy, Greece, Egypt and Turkey, before taking in Granada's Alhambra Palace. Back in Britain, Jones published his Alhambra studies and, in doing so, raised the profile of the varied use of colour and pattern within architecture. His tile designs attracted architectural reformers, such as Prince Albert, and involved Jones in the 1851 Great Exhibition, where he decorated the interior of the building with bold blues, reds and yellows. Jones also believed in widening access to design education, hence the pubication of The Grammar of Ornament in 1856. The Victoria and Albert Museum, which holds the collection from The School of Design, which Jones helped to put together, writes: "Setting out to identify the common principles behind the best examples of historical ornament, he formulated a design language that was suitable for the modern world." Indeed, rather than stipulating the design and ornament which was in vogue at the time, The Grammar of Ornament lays out a smörgåsbord of design samples, lending the publication its enduring appeal.
Information from The Victoria and Albert Museum