The Illuminated books of the middle ages. Pictorial Ornamentation from the IV th to the XVII th centuries

London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans 1849

(4)nn pp (letterpress & chromolithographic title) + 20 pp (text + 2 uncoloured plate of 13 ornaments + xxxix chromolithographed plates (plates are pasted and printed on coated paper); all plates are protected by a thin leaf and preceded by a text leaf with explanations (some of these text leaves have a chromolithographic border); (complete edition); rebound in half leather with marbled boards, spine with five raised bands and gilt title along with blind stamped decorative patterns, new end papers, all edges gilt.
15.2 x 11.2 x 1.6 in (38 x 28 x 4 cm)

H. N. Humphreys is principally known as a designer of elaborate bindings made of wood and papier mâché.

This is a splendid copy of one of the highlights of 19th century chromolithographic art. The book is illustrated by a series of examples, of the size of the originals, selected from the most beautiful Mss. of the various periods, executed on stone and printed in colour by Owen Jones.

First published in 1845 as a quarto edition, the present lot is a stunning folio edition. Michael Twyman, in his study on chromolithography (p. 153), rates this book as a turning point in the technique of chromolithography and speculates that the stipple technique used here might have inspired the French impressionist painters using the ‘pointillism’ technique.

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