Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Antwerp, Rouen &c.
London: By Thomas Boys, Printseller to the Royal Family, 1839. Item #04775
One of the Greatest Masterpieces of Nineteenth-Century Color Lithography
Thomas Shotter Boys' Magnificent Tour of Medieval France and Flanders
BOYS, Thomas Shotter. Picturesque Architecture in Paris, Ghent, Antwerp, Rouen &c. Drawn from Nature and on Stone. London: By Thomas Boys, Printseller to the Royal Family, 1839.
First edition. Folio (21 1/4 x 14 5/8 inches; 539 x 371 mm.). [4] pp. (title and dedication). Twenty-six magnificent lithotint plates (including the title-page), all printed in colors by Charles Hullmandel after drawings made by Thomas Shotter Boys, each with the original tissue guard. Bound without the two-page "Descriptive Notice," absent from many copies.
Publisher's original half red morocco, front cover with elaborate gilt decoration enclosing a red moré silk panel with inset red morocco title label lettered in gilt. Expertly rebacked to style with plain spine. Original yellow endpapers with neat early ownership inscription dated 1871. The blank margins of the plates have been expertly cleaned, leaving the original printing and coloring entirely untouched. A handsome and exceptionally well-preserved copy in its rare original publisher's binding.
Few illustrated books better embody the artistic ambitions of the Romantic period than Thomas Shotter Boys' Picturesque Architecture in Paris…. Universally regarded as one of the masterpieces of nineteenth-century color lithography, it united Boys' remarkable powers as an architectural draftsman with the revolutionary printing techniques developed by Charles Hullmandel, producing images of extraordinary luminosity, atmosphere, and technical refinement. More than merely recording famous buildings, Boys captured the poetry of Europe's medieval cities at the very moment before industrial modernization irrevocably altered their appearance.
The twenty-six plates transport the viewer through the ancient streets of Paris, Rouen, Ghent, and Antwerp. Towering Gothic cathedrals, Renaissance town halls, medieval gateways, bustling markets, quiet canals, and picturesque lanes are animated by merchants, washerwomen, street vendors, children, clergy, and horse-drawn traffic. Boys possessed an exceptional understanding of light, allowing brilliant sunshine, soft cloud, mist, and shadow to dissolve naturally across stone façades and ancient streets. His cities appear not as archaeological monuments, but as vibrant living places.
The extraordinary quality of the illustrations owes as much to Charles Hullmandel as to Boys himself. Hullmandel's pioneering lithotint process represented one of the greatest technical advances in nineteenth-century printing, permitting the subtle tonal gradations and transparent washes of watercolor drawings to be reproduced with a fidelity previously thought impossible. The cool, luminous color harmonies achieved here remain among the finest ever printed by lithography.
The work was immediately recognized as a landmark. The Art Union declared: "Our recommendation of it to all who love and can appreciate art cannot be given in terms too strong; it is worthy of the highest possible praise. The work is of exceeding beauty."
Martin Hardie later described it as: "A genuine triumph... Thomas Shotter Boys is head and shoulders above them all. His drawing is refined and sensitive, and his colouring cool, simple, and direct."
James Abbey, whose judgment on English illustrated books remains unsurpassed, considered Picturesque Architecture even finer than Boys' celebrated Original Views of London, writing: "A very beautiful book, and one that should take preference over its later and more popular rival... Apart from the brilliance, sensitivity, and technical mastery of the drawing on stone there is the great, and often under-estimated, technical and artistic achievement of Hullmandel in making possible the transmission of such drawings, and in developing the cool, transparent, graduated tints, subtle in colouring, on which the unique effect of the book depends."
Thomas Shotter Boys (1803-1874) began his artistic career as an engraver before settling in Paris, where his friendship with Richard Parkes Bonington profoundly influenced his development as a watercolor painter. Although often overshadowed by Roberts, Prout, and Nash, Boys achieved in this volume what many scholars regard as the supreme marriage of architectural drawing and color lithography. Every plate demonstrates an effortless command of perspective, atmosphere, and composition, qualities perfectly complemented by Hullmandel's incomparable printing.
The present copy is particularly desirable. It preserves the rare and elaborate original publisher's binding - one of the most attractive publisher's bindings of the Victorian period - expertly restored while retaining its original character.
The lithotints remain remarkably fresh, with transparent colors and delicate tonal gradations beautifully preserved, while careful professional cleaning of the margins has enhanced the overall presentation without affecting the printed surfaces.
A cornerstone of nineteenth-century illustrated book production and one of the greatest achievements in the history of color lithography.
Abbey, Travel 33; Tooley 105; Bobins II, 512; Hardie, English Coloured Books, pp. 247-249.
Price: $16,500.00