CLARK, John Heaviside (1770-1863); [William Gilpin, 1724-1804]

A Practical Essay on the Art of Colouring and Painting Landscapes in Water Colours, with Ten Illustrative Engravings; [bound with] A Practical Illustration of Gilpin's Day, Representing the Various Effects on Landscape Scenery from Morning till Night, in Thirty Designs from Nature.

London: Printed for and sold by Edward Orme, Bond Street, the Corner of Brook Street, 1812. Full Calf. Superb, beautifully colored examples (bound in one volume) of these early guides to watercolor painting: the "first of the coloured drawing books" (Prideaux) and and a "surprisingly elusive" (Martin-Hardie) copy of Gilpin's Day. Royal 4to (350 x 247mm): [4],28pp, with 10 numbered aquatints (six hand-colored; plate IV misnumbered "V") engraved by J. Hamble after Clark; [4],viii,[32]pp, with 30 hand-colored aquatint engravings by Clark after Gilpin. Contemporary Cambridge-style paneled calf, covers with Greek key border in gilt and floral roll and corner pieces in blind, spine (relaid) gilt in six compartments between raised bands, all edges marbled. Provenance: early twentieth-century bookplates of bibliophile Mildred Davey and printer and book collector John Nolty (1851-1930) to front end sheets. A gorgeous, wide margined example, clean and bright throughout. Tooley 144 and 145. Abbey (Life) 108, 109. Martin-Hardie, pp. 119-20. Prideaux, pp. 185-88, 331. Fine. Item #BB2461

Second Edition of A Practical Essay (originally published in 1807), First Edition of Gilpin's Day (reissued in 1824 with altered title and imprint). Clark drew the title of Gilpin's Day from a poem in Gilpin's Essay on Pictorial Beauty, which celebrates the "arch ethereal . . . pregnant with change perpetual, from the morning's purple dawn, till the last glimm'ring ray of russet eve." Gilpin's Day was intended primarily as a drawing book, with aquatints the "nearest approach to actual water-colour paintings that I have met with in a book." (Martin-Hardie) The 30 plates (each with page of text, except plate 10, which has two pages) give the range of effects from "Dawn of Day" to "Waning Moon," passing through various sunrises, clouds and haze, storms, rainbows, lightning, and moonlight. The plate texts provide precise details for coloring each scene so as to resemble as closely as possible a watercolor sketch. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).

Price: $3,274.00