BIDCOMBE HILL, WITH OTHER RURAL POEMS

(FORE-EDGE PAINTINGS). SKURRAY, REV. FRANCIS

Verlag: Printed for William Miller, London, 1808

191 x 121 mm. (7 1/2 x 4 3/4"). 6 p.l., [3]-56, 56*, [3], 57-153, [1] (errata) pp. Contemporary green straight-grain morocco, elaborately decorated in gilt and blind, covers with gilt palmette frame enclosing black-tooled floral frame, flat spine with panels intricately tooled in gilt and black, gilt-rolled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. WITH A FINE PASTORAL FORE-EDGE PAINTING OF ST. BEE'S COLLEGE, CUMBERLAND. In a later sturdy fleece-lined cloth slipcase. With four engraved plates. â Spine sunned to light green, muted spotting to leather, plates somewhat foxed, other minor defects, but still quite a pleasing copy, the binding with only insignificant wear, the text bright, fresh, and clear, and the margins very ample. This is a pretty little book featuring a very pleasing fore-edge painting of unusual composition. The painted scene presents a pastoral tableau, with St. Bee's College in Wiltshire in the background at center-right and cottages in mid-ground, all in a treed landscape. Two shepherds and their sheep populate the foreground. The colors are soft, capturing the typical gray English afternoon. Notably, the composition is a pleasing alternative to the typical edifice-flanked-by-trees within a static landscape design. Here, that arrangement is broken up, the landscape is contoured, and perspective is heightened; the composition has shape, depth, and dimension, all realized with a muted and delicate technique. The painting is surely from the 19th century, and it may well have been done before 1850. Written by parson and schoolmaster Francis Skurray (1774-1848), this collection was described by "The British Critic and Quarterly Theological Review" as an "elegantly printed volume" of "local poetry, which is particularly interesting.". Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers ST12691

Bibliografische Details

Titel: BIDCOMBE HILL, WITH OTHER RURAL POEMS
Verlag: Printed for William Miller, London
Erscheinungsdatum: 1808
Auflage: FIRST EDITION.