A monument of color printing
A chronicle of England B.C. 55 - A.D. 1485. Written and illustrated by James E. Doyle the designs engraved and printed in colours by Edmond Evans
London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, 1864. Unusual format with gatherings of 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 leaves, the pages approx. 10½" x 8"; pp. [2], viii, 462; title page printed in red and black, 81 color-printed wood-engraved illustrations in the text by Edmund Evans after James Doyle; full red morocco by Heyday & Co., elaborate gilt border on covers, spine in 5 compartments, gilt-lettered direct in 1, a.e.g., inner dentelles; extremities moderately rubbed but the binding is sound and internally very clean. "The first book with original work printed in colour expressly designed for the original text" (Muir, Victorian Illustrated Books (1971), p. 158). "Edmund Evans (1826-1905) is probably the best known colour printer of the century ... For full colour printing Evans generally used a black line-block and applied the colour from as many as twelve blocks for his most elaborate work, such as J. E. Doyle, A Chronicle of England ... Evans is particularly notable for the skill with which his tint blocks were engraved and for the successful way in which he combined his illustrations with the text" (Wakeman & Birdson, A Guide to Nineteenth Century Colour Printers (1975), p. 40). Item #58408
Price: $1,500.00
