Engravings Of Sepulchral Brasses In Norfolk And Suffolk, Tending To Illustrate The Ecclesiastical, Military, And Civil Costume, As Well As To Preserve Memorials Of Ancient Families In That County. By John Sell Cotman, Esq. With An Introductory Essay By Dawson Turner, Esq. F.R.S. F.S.A. &c. Second Edition, With Additional Plates, And With Notes By Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, Ll.D. F.S.A. &c. Albert Way, Esq. And Sir N. Harris Nicolas, K.C.M.G. - Vol. I. (II.) -
RA Collection: Book
Record number
06/5208
Imprint
London:: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden., MDCCCXXXIX.
Physical Description
2 vols.; 488 mm. (Folio.)
General Note
Vol. I: [2], xxvi, 42, [63-]67, [1] p., frontis. (= pl. 63 bis), pl. 1-81 (pl. 2, 3 are dble.). - Vol. II: [2], 43-62, [4], 31, [1] p., frontis. (= pl. XXIV bis), pl. 82-111, Suppl. 1-6 (but 4 is numbered as 'XXIII' and 6 as 'XLV'), Appendix 1-7, I-XLVII.
Contents
Vol. I: [Frontis., t.p.] - [Divisional t.p., 'Engravings Of Sepulchral Brasses In Norfolk ... MDCCCXXXVIII.'] - Preface - Introduction - [Plates and text] - Index To The Norfolk Brasses; [colophon]. - Vol. II: [Frontis., t.p.] - [Plates 82-111 and text] - Supplement [and its pl. 1-6] - Appendix [and its pl. 1-7] - [Divisional t.p., 'Engravings Of Sepulchral Brasses In Suffolk ... MDCCCXXXVIII.'] - [Publisher's note] - [Plates I-XLVII and text] - Index To The Suffolk Brasses; [colophon]. (In some copies the plates 82-111 with their text, and the Supplement and Appendix and their plates are bound into Volume I.)
Responsibility Note
The publisher's note in Volume II acknowledges contributions to the text by D.E. Davy, Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, John Gage, C.G. Young, Richard Almack.
Most plates in both volumes are signed as drawn, etched and published by J. S. Cotman (with the date). But among the Norfolk plates pl.7 is signed simply as engraved by him; pl. 70, as drawn and engraved by him; pl. 84, as etched and published by him; pl. 85, as published by him. Seven plates are unsigned (Norfolk plates nos. 28, 111 and Suppl. pl. 2; Suffolk plates nos. III, X, XXV, XXXVI).
The printer is named on the versos of the two divisional title-pages and in the two colophons: '(London:) J.B. Nichols And Son, 25, Parliament Street.'
References
Royal Institute of British Artists, British Architectural Library ... Early printed, I (1994), no. 716, p.405; R. Colas, Bibliographie Générale Du Costume (1933), no. 747, p.262-3; Katalog Der Freiherrlich Von Lipperheide'schen Kostümbibliothek (repr. 1963), no.999, p.430-1.
Summary Note
The publication-date of 1839 is carried by the two title-pages; but the two divisional title-pages have imprints with the date of 1838.
The Norfolk plates 1-111 had first been published in 1819 as Engravings Of The Most Remarkable Of The Sepulchral Brasses In Norfolk, and they carry the dates of 1805 (pl. 58), 1813, 1814, 1815, 1816, 1817 and 1818 (dble. pl. 2, 3). Three plates of their Supplement (pl. 1, 3, [6]) had first appeared in Specimens of Norman and Gothic architecture (1821?), and plates 3 and [6] carry the date of 1817. (Plates [4] and [6] of the Supplement here carry the numbers XXIII and XLV because they were so numbered in Cotman's Specimens of architectural remains (1838).) The plates of the Appendix are new to this edition, but carry the dates of 1814-16.
The Suffolk plates had first been published in 1819 as Engravings of sepulchral brasses in Suffolk. Most carry the date of 1817; but two, of 1814 (pl. V, XXVII).
Most plates have a yellow wash. But the frontispieces are painted in full colour (in Volume I, repeating plate 63; in Volume II, repeating plate XXIV).
Many of the original rubbings on which the etchings were based are conserved by the Society of Antiquaries in London. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography several were made by D.E. Davy.
Provenance
The verso of the front loose endpaper of Volume I is inscribed in pencil 'S:A:H', i.e. S.A. Hart, librarian of the Royal Academy 1864-81.
People - Families - Knights (landholders) - Costume - Dress - Armor (protective wear) - Great Britain - Norfolk - Suffolk - History
Brasses (memorials) - Sepulchral monuments - Great Britain - Norfolk - Suffolk - History
Art history - Drawings - Great Britain - 19th century
Pictorial works - Hand coloring - Great Britain - 19th century