Chromolithography

London: Day & Son, (1861). Full morocco, 17 1/2 inches tall. A magnificent full crushed morocco binding by Mansell with gilt raised bands, superb gilt tooling to the panels and an elaborate series of gilt rolls and fillets frames the boards. Gilt dentelles and all edges. The upper board has the gilt blocked crest of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. There is a neat ink inscription 'C.G. Chalk Good Conduct prize 1873' on the first blank. Illustrated with 100 pages of superb chromolithographic plates designed by Owen Jones. This scarce work is more usually found in a 'relievo' binding, which, though spectacular, was bound using gutta percha, a rubber that perishes, and the leaves are usually loose or rebound. This results in the plates often being creased and frayed. Bound here in a conventional manner the plates are in perfect condition. The great bookbinding firm of Mansell was a continuation of Hayday. There is ink staining to the upper board. Owen Jones was a great British architect and designer, pioneering modern colour theory, and was a major figure in the formation of the the Victoria and Albert Museum. Owen Jones was also responsible for the interior decoration and layout of exhibits for the Great Exhibition building of 1851. He designed both secular and religious books and is still avidly collected and admired today.