![[FORE-EDGE PAINTING] The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England; together with the Psalter of Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches.](/sites/default/files/styles/auction_slider/public/images/lots/874/1557874.jpg?itok=DbGNidtq)
Lot Details
Lot 138
[FORE-EDGE PAINTING] The Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England; together with the Psalter of Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches.
Paris: P. Didot, Sen. and sold by W. Edwards and Sons, Halifax, 1791. Probably bound by the Edwards of Halifax bindery (which did not sign or ticket its bindings) in contemporary "Etruscan" calf, central tree-calf panel within a gilt roll, with a stained border of classical palmettes within an outer Greek key roll, the spine divided into six panels, lettered in one with a black goatskin label, the others tooled in gilt with a tool with a bird motif, with a fine concealed fore-edge painting of Eton College; housed in a modern clamshell case. 5 3/8 x 3 1/2 inches (15 x 9 cm); 423 pp. Joints tender, barely holding. Bookplate of Willoughby.
The binding is characteristic of the work of the Edwards of Halifax bindery under William Edwards, and given the Edwards imprint and overall appearance, it seems probable that this fore-edge painting is an authentic product of theirs. We trace another example of this design design on a duodecimo copy of Falconer's The Shipwreck, in a similar Edwards binding. Eton College's own library records at least three examples of the present work in Edwards bindings (two of underpainted vellum. one of morocco), two of which have fore-edge paintings. All of this supports the comment by Bryan Maggs in the firm's catalogue 1075 "This would seem to support the view that these bindings and fore-edge paintings were to some extent mass-produced to satisfy a market..." To this comment we would append the suggestion that the firm likely had a pattern-book to support this business, though none appears to have survived.
C The Collection of Jay I. Kislak sold to benefit the Kislak Family Foundation
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