REPTON, Humphry

Odd Whims; and Miscellanies.

London: Printed for William Miller by W. Bulmer, 1804. Item #03777

A Humorous Work by Humphry Repton, with Ten Hand-Colored Aquatint Plates
Fine in the Original Boards, Uncut

REPTON, Humphry. Odd Whims; and Miscellanies. London: Printed for William Miller, by W. Bulmer and Co., 1804.

First edition. Two small octavo volumes (7 3/4 x 4 7/8 inches; 196 x 124 mm.). [1]-xii, [2], 171, [1, blank]; [vi], 164 pp.

Ten hand-colored aquatint plates by J. Stadler after Repton. Stipple-engraved title vignettes by H.R. Cook after Repton.
Complete with both half-titles. Plates 1 (volume 1 facing p. 24), 4 (volume 1 facing p. 126) and 10 (volume 2 facing p. 114) slightly stained in blank margins, short marginal tear on fore-edge of leaf G (pp. 81/2) in volume 1. Plates watermarked "1798".

Original pink boards, printed paper labels on spines. Ink note on front board of volume 2.

A remarkable copy of this rare and charming work.

Better known for his 1803 work with intricate hand-colored plates after his own drawings of landscapes, Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, Repton both wrote the several amusing essays and dialogues that comprise Odd Whims and furnished the drawings for the aquatint plates.

The plates:

1. A View of the Life & the Mountain of Calamity
2. The Hall of Silence
3. 1745-1787-1804
4. The Bashful Man
5. The Friars Tale
6. Sir Geffry Oddwhim, Lady Jane, Charlotte & Peerson
7. Sir Geffry & Sir James Oddwhim
8. Charlotte & Madame Crepon
9. Lady Jane & Lord Blazon
10. Peerson, Stanley, Sir Geffry, Ruki & Tim

Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 - 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. He is well-known for his fine books on Architecture and Landscape Gardening - Sketches and Hints on Landscape Gardening (1794), Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1803), Designs for the Pavilion at Brighton (1808) and Fragments on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1816). Repton sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of the 19th century. His Odd Whims; and Miscellanies (1804) were dedicated to William Windham, the British Whig Statesman. Some of the essays in Variety were reprinted in this collection, and in the second volume is Odd Whims, or Two at a Time; a Comedy, Written in the year 1783, which was played at Ipswich in 1804.

Abbey, Life, 246 and 247 (large paper copy measuring 9 x 5/38 inches). Prideaux, p. 349.

Price: $1,250.00