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Art, Architecture and Fine Press
Lot 177
MILTON, JOHN. 1608-1674. MARTIN, JOHN, illustrator. 1789-1854. Paradise Lost. London: Charles Wittingham, 1846.
Withdrawn
Amended
24 April – 4 May 2023, 12:00 EDT
Online, New YorkUS$4,000 - US$6,000
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MILTON, JOHN. 1608-1674.
MARTIN, JOHN, illustrator. 1789-1854. Paradise Lost. London: Charles Wittingham, 1846.
Imperial 4to (375 x 270 mm). 24 mezzotint plates by Martin. Contemporary dark purple Morocco decorated in blind and gilt, gilt-ruled dentelles, red silk endleaves. Rubbed, joints repaired with renewed hinges, foxing, minor soiling.
LARGE PAPER COPY. Martin was commissioned by publisher Septimus Prowett to create 24 illustrations in Imperial Folio size, published between 1825 and 1827. Martin's illustrations, which greatly elevated the medium of the mezzotint, were enormously successful. Martin transformed details of early nineteenth-century industrialism, such as gas lamps, coal pits and the new Thames Tunnel, into dizzying visions of hell. According to a contemporary reviewer, "we know of no artist, whose genius so perfectly fitted him to be the illustrator of the mighty Milton ... there is a wildness, a grandeur, and a mystery about his designs which are indescribably fine ... the wonders of that Heaven and Hell which existed before earth was made, are magnificently embodied..." (quoted in Wees). Publication took nearly two years, the parts issued as the mezzotints were completed, the images not necessarily corresponding to the text in the parts. Prowett subsequently had the artist re-engrave the images in a quarto size. The success of this venture led Martin to embark on a project to make a complete set of illustrations for the Old Testament, but it failed to generate the income he expected. He sold off his remaining stock of prints and proofs, which were used to produce this Imperial Quarto edition. Ray English 69; Wees, Darkness Visible: The Prints of John Martin, pp 18ff.
Imperial 4to (375 x 270 mm). 24 mezzotint plates by Martin. Contemporary dark purple Morocco decorated in blind and gilt, gilt-ruled dentelles, red silk endleaves. Rubbed, joints repaired with renewed hinges, foxing, minor soiling.
LARGE PAPER COPY. Martin was commissioned by publisher Septimus Prowett to create 24 illustrations in Imperial Folio size, published between 1825 and 1827. Martin's illustrations, which greatly elevated the medium of the mezzotint, were enormously successful. Martin transformed details of early nineteenth-century industrialism, such as gas lamps, coal pits and the new Thames Tunnel, into dizzying visions of hell. According to a contemporary reviewer, "we know of no artist, whose genius so perfectly fitted him to be the illustrator of the mighty Milton ... there is a wildness, a grandeur, and a mystery about his designs which are indescribably fine ... the wonders of that Heaven and Hell which existed before earth was made, are magnificently embodied..." (quoted in Wees). Publication took nearly two years, the parts issued as the mezzotints were completed, the images not necessarily corresponding to the text in the parts. Prowett subsequently had the artist re-engrave the images in a quarto size. The success of this venture led Martin to embark on a project to make a complete set of illustrations for the Old Testament, but it failed to generate the income he expected. He sold off his remaining stock of prints and proofs, which were used to produce this Imperial Quarto edition. Ray English 69; Wees, Darkness Visible: The Prints of John Martin, pp 18ff.
Saleroom notices
Lot withdrawn.