DILKE, [Emilia Francis], Lady. French Painters of the XVIIIth Century. (FIRST EDITION - 1899 - IN A FINE COSWAY BINDING)

AUTHOR: DILKE, [Emilia Francis], Lady. 

TITLE: French Painters of the XVIIIth Century.

PUBLISHER: London: George Bell, 1899.

DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION. 1 vol., 11-3/8" x 7-7/8", xv, 230p., [78] leaves of plates, bound in full crimson morocco, front cover elaborately gilt to a design of leafy sprays, with five inset hand-painted miniatures under glass, of Madame de Pompadour (upper right), Marie Antoinette (lower right), the Duchess de Chartres (lower left), the Duchess de Chateauroux (upper left), and Catherine Noel Grand de Talleyrand-Perigord, Princess de Benevent (in the center), rear cover ruled and gilt paneled with matching floral corner pieces, gilt dentelles, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, top edge gilt, others uncut, by Riviere and Sons with their stamp on the lower front turn-in.

CONDITION: Internally clean and bright, hinges fine, head and foot of spine fine, housed in a full leather open ended slipcase, Helen Clay Frick's copy, with her engraved bookplate depicting her father reading in the Living Hall of his New York residence, designed and engraved by Timothy Cole, 1929.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: An excellent example of a Cosway-style binding with five miniatures (though not signed, these are possibly by Miss Currie), with a distinguished provenance. The bookplate, something of a tour-de-force by Cole (always a remarkable engraver) quotes a letter by Henry Clay Frick: "Those who do not read are going back instead of progressing."