2013 ABA.pdf - Grosvenor Prints

1. The Anatomy Of
The Horse.
Including A Particular Description of the
Bones, Cartilages, Muscles, Fascias,
Ligaments, Nerves, Arteries, Veins, and
Glands. In
Eighteen
Tables, alll done from
Nature. By George Stubbs, Painter.
[Designed and etched by George Stubbs.] London,
Printed by J. Purser, for the Author. 1766.
Large oblong
folio, half-calf gilt, rebacked, Spanish
hand-made marbled boards c.1804, marbled endpapers,
within modern box; title + (i)+ pp.47; 24 etched plates,
each c.375 x 480mm. Binding generally
scuffed and
rubbed (unrestored), spine
rebound. Spots of residue
from expertly
removed mould visible in
upper marginn
of several plates. This residue particularly prominent in
Tabs. IX and
XI, encroaching into platee Tabs. XIII and
XIV. Vertical 'scuff' line from upper edge of paper c.
5cm into plate centre left Tab. XII. Diagonal crease
though top edge of upper right corner off sheet Tab.
XIV, well outside plate. Lower right corner and lower
left corner extremities missing Tabs. I and a key
respectively ('skeleton').
£19500
Complete volume of this masterpiece off equine
anatomical exploration by George Stubbs [1724 -
1806]. It takes the form of
what are effectively two sets
of etchings combined. The
first part, of four plates,
deals exclusively with the skeletal structure of the
horse and comprises three finished etchings labelled
Tabs. I, II and III, and one
key plate corresponding too
Tab I. The second part explores the muscles, fascias,
ligaments, nerves, veins, glands and cartilages. This
consists of 15
etchings, Tabs. I - XV, nos. I - V each
with corresponding separate key plates. This volume is
compiled from two separate first editions. The binding
and letterpress sheets, along with four plates, come
from a copy ex-Royal Veterinary College. The platess
as follows; Tabs I (Lennox-Boyd 169), III (173), IV
(175) and the final plate XV (188). The remainder of
the plates comee from a private collection in i the West
Country. Thesee etchings are fine impressions on
contemporary laid paper, on which only the earliest
copies were printed. They represent gloriously precise,
detailed and accurate anatomical observations which
set the standardd in veterinaryy science for a century.
They certainly possess p a 'finee exactness and austere
beauty' that 'give them a timeless beauty' (Ray).(
Stubbs
says in his introduction 'To The Reader': 'all the figures
in
it are drawn from nature, for which purpose I
dissected a great number of horses'. 42 original
sketches from Stubbs's S dissections between 1756 and
1759 while he was w at Horkstow in Lincolnshire survive
in
the library off the Royal Academy. These form the
basis of this great work, an undertaking too demanding
it seems for some of the premier engraverss of the time,
such as Charless Grignion, who declined Stubbs's
approaches. The task took upp the following six years,
all the while thee artist refining his rather rudimentary
engraving technique. The impact of the publication of
the work was immediate andd considerable, not only in
scientific terms, but in an agee of Enlightenment when
the aesthetic ideal was closely connected with
observation of the t natural world, the artistic
community derived great benefit also.
Freshly appreciated and re-discovered in the 20th
century, Georgee Stubbs is now widely considered to be
the pre-eminentt animal painter of the 18th
century.
Throughout hiss life Stubbs displayed an inquisitive
scientific temperament, and he had a life-long interest
in
deconstructing anatomy, one of his earliest works
ncluding a set of illustrations for a textbook on
midwifery which was published in 1751.
Lennox-Boyd: 1661
- 188.
[Ref: 5777]