ROWLANDSON, Thomas; Oppé, A.P.

Thomas Rowlandson. His Drawings and Water-Colours

London: Published by The Studio, Limited, 1923. Item #00740

One of 200 Large-Paper Copies

[ROWLANDSON, Thomas]. OPPÉ, A. P. Thomas Rowlandson. His Drawings and Water-Colours. Edited by Geoffrey Holme. London: Published by The Studio, 1923.

First edition. Limited to 200 numbered large-paper copies (this being No. 110).

Large folio (15 5/16 x 11 1/4 inches; 390 x 287 mm). viii, 32 pp. Illustrated with sixteen mounted color plates, each with descriptive tissue guards, and eighty black-and-white plates reproducing drawings and watercolours.

Original parchment over bevelled boards, the front cover ruled in brown with a small decorative motif in brown and grey and lettered in gilt; spine with five flat raised bands, lettered in gilt at foot and with a black morocco gilt lettering-piece; marbled endpapers; top edge gilt, others uncut. A near-fine copy, clean and well preserved.

A landmark monograph and one of the finest twentieth-century illustrated books devoted to Thomas Rowlandson, presenting his work at a scale and fidelity rarely equalled. A. P. Oppé, one of the foremost authorities on British watercolor and caricature, brings scholarly rigor and connoisseurship to Rowlandson’s immense and varied output, emphasizing the artist’s technical brilliance as a draughtsman alongside his satirical genius.

Issued by The Studio in a deliberately small large-paper limitation, this edition was intended for collectors and institutions rather than the general market. The mounted color plates, printed on superior paper and carefully tipped-in, remain among the best reproductions of Rowlandson’s watercolors ever published. As such, the book has long been regarded as a cornerstone of serious Rowlandson libraries and an essential reference for collectors of English caricature and Regency graphic art.

Price: $375.00