The Works of Horatius Quintus Flaccus Illustrated Chiefly from the Remains of Ancient Art. With a Life by the Rev. Henry Hart Milman.
London: John Murray, 1849. First Milman/Jones edition. Eight chromolithographed pages by Owen Jones, each with a tissue guard; hundreds of woodcuts (statues, bas-reliefs, coins, gems, people, etc.) by George Scharf, Jun.; initial letters. Title page printed in black and red. A bit of wear to joints, but sound. Small stains to lower gutter and margin of some signatures, not affecting text. Two early twentieth century bookplates on front endpapers. Pencil and ink notation, dated 1907, on a preliminary blank. A very good, beautifully illustrated and bound copy. Full crushed levant black morocco tooled decoratively in gilt and blind by Alfred Matthews with a six-paneled gilt-lettered spine. Top edge gilt in addition to gilt turn-ins and marbled endpapers. Original ornamental wrappers bound in. Thick octavo, two volumes in one. [6], 194; [4], 490, xiv pp. Item #16855
"Owen Jones had yet a fourth book out in 1849, The Works of Horace, with a Life by Canon H.H. Milman...It is a continuation of the Ancient Spanish Ballads and Book of Common Prayer style: the pages of the Life are surrounded by decorated borders cut on wood and printed in colours, and the Books of the Poems are prefaced by eight chromolithographed title-pages in a roman or classical style, of which the colour schemes are unusual and attractive. The book also contains monochrome decorations by Jones and drawings from the antique by George Scharf, Jun." (McLean, Victorian Book Design & Colour Printing, p. 94).
Price: $1,250.00