Beschreibung:

HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803) -- Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases Mostly of Pure Greek Workmanship . Naples: Tischbein, 1791-1795. 3 volumes, 2° (490 x 380mm). Engraved frontispiece, English and French engraved titles in each volume, and 192 engraved plates, all on laid paper watermarked 'M'. (Occasional browning, short worm track in the bottom margin of some leaves in vol. 2.) Contemporary, possibly original, diced quarter sheep over drab pasteboards, spines ruled and lettered in gilt (spine ends worn, boards worn at edges). Provenance : small, indistinct monogram in manuscript on front board of each volume.
HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803) -- Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases Mostly of Pure Greek Workmanship . Naples: Tischbein, 1791-1795. 3 volumes, 2° (490 x 380mm). Engraved frontispiece, English and French engraved titles in each volume, and 192 engraved plates, all on laid paper watermarked 'M'. (Occasional browning, short worm track in the bottom margin of some leaves in vol. 2.) Contemporary, possibly original, diced quarter sheep over drab pasteboards, spines ruled and lettered in gilt (spine ends worn, boards worn at edges). Provenance : small, indistinct monogram in manuscript on front board of each volume. FIRST EDITION. This lavishly-illustrated work records Hamilton's second collection and is particularly valuable because one-third of the collection was lost when the ship transporting it to England sank off the Scilly Isles. The use of simple outline, rather than the elaborate coloured engravings of the first collection catalogue, was in keeping with Hamilton's original intention for the first catalogue: to be affordable to contemporary artists and manufacturers for use as a pattern book. A fourth volume was published sometime after Hamilton's death. Blackmer 778; Brunet V, 866; RIBA 3319; Vases and Volcanoes , pp.55-7. (3)