Giambatista Verci]]> Books]]> Robert Lambe]]> Books]]> Oeuvres, was designed and drawn by artist François Boucher (1703-70). Boucher was ‘First Painter to the King’ – Louis XV (1710-74), and although Boucher was a trained engraver the image for the book was carved by Jacque Phillipe LeBas (1707-83). LeBas also worked within the King’s artistic ‘stable’ – Le Cabinet du Roy – and was one of the most sought after graveurs in mid-17th century Paris. The bust on the plinth in the image depicts the author, Crébillon, and despite the fact he wrote tragedies, the scene surrounding him looks almost idyllic.]]> ___]]> Books]]> Theory of the Earth ‘initiated a lively tradition of scientific treatises on the origins of the earth’. First published in Latin in 1681, the frontispiece, here, appeared in the 1684 English translation. The image was included, albeit modified, in all subsequent editions; and as Magruder says is ‘so effective a summary….that his [Burnet’s] views frequently are described simply by reference to this engraving’ (2008). Here we see Jesus Christ standing atop seven globes, clockwise they each represent a stage in Earth’s development. Earth in chaos; Earth as perfect, featureless; Earth in the Great Flood, with the Ark; Earth as we know it; Earth in conflagration; Earth perfect again; and finally Earth has become a star.]]> [Thomas Burnet]]]> Books]]> Gulliveriana, contains a frontispiece that depicts them in an unfavourable light. This foreshadows their treatment in the text. On the left stands Swift, dressed in his robes of office as a clergyman, a cloven hoof peeking out at the bottom. Pope is on the right, a short man standing on a table, with the pronounced hunchback he had developed after a childhood illness. As part of the ‘joke’, it appears as though ‘Veritas’ (Truth) has designed the image, and ‘Justitia’ (Justice) has engraved it.]]> [Jonathan Smedley]]]> Books]]> [William Dodd]]]> Books]]> The Mirror of Perfection contains the teachings of St Francis of Assisi (13th century), the writing of which is attributed to his disciple and close companion, Brother Leo. One legend associated with St Francis is the ‘conversion of the wolf of Gubbio’, and it is this legend that informs the frontispiece to this edition. As the story goes, a wolf was terrorising and eating the inhabitants of the Umbrian town of Gubbio. St Francis commanded the wolf, in the name of God, to stop, which he did. In exchange for his compliance, the inhabitants were to feed the wolf every day for the rest of its life, which they did. The engraving for this image is after an unpublished drawing by English artist and set designer, Charles Ricketts (1866-1931).]]> [Brother Leo]]]> Books]]> Portugal and Madeira. The younger brother of Edith and Osbert, Sitwell gained permission to reproduce the image, not only from Hillier, but from the painting’s owner, collector and gallery owner, Arthur Jeffress. Built in the 18th century in a style synonymous with Rococo, the painting of the Chapel of the Misercórdia in Viseu, Portugal, would have been reproduced by creating a plate from a photograph of the original.]]> Sacheverell Sitwell]]> Books]]> A. Millicent Brown and E. Bleazby]]> Books]]> Translated from the German by Anne Plumptre]]> Books]]> Faust (first published in 1808).]]> Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]]> Books]]> Hunting of the Snark (first published in 1876) contains illustrations by celebrated American artist Peter Newell (1862-1924). Newell mainly worked for Harper & Brothers Publishers (think Harper’s Bazaar), but was also well known for his comics, and writing and illustrating children’s books. Newell is in good company with the other famous illustrators of Carroll’s works, John Tenniel (1820-1914) for Alice, and Henry Holiday (1839-1927) for The Hunting of the Snark.]]> Lewis Carroll]]> Books]]> Vikings of the Sunrise was his most popular book, which he researched and wrote while working as director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Hawaii.]]> Peter H. Buck (Te Rangi Hiroa)]]> Books]]> Free Russia, but the landscape orientation lends itself well to the depiction of the far-reaching Russian steppe. Here Cossacks (Kozaks) and soldiers of Kyrgyzstan (Kirchiz) accompany the infantry.]]> William Hepworth Dixon]]> Books]]> Life and Works helped increase their popularity and they worked with famous, contemporary artist, J.M.W. Turner.]]> ___]]> Books]]> Istoria della Città e Costiera di Amalfi. Camera drew all the illustrations, including this landscape-oriented frontispiece. The images were then engraved by Guglielmo Morghen. The man leaning on the stone wall, puffing on his pipe, and looking towards Amalfi stands on what is now the site of the Hotel Santa Caterina.]]> Matteo Camera]]> Books]]> Tristam Shandy, Laurence Sterne has the ‘hero’ quote from William Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty (1753). Obviously delighted with Hogarth’s work, Sterne wrote a letter: ‘I would give both my Ears…for no more than ten Strokes of Howgarth’s witty Chissel, to clap at the front of my next Edition of Shandy.’ In the second edition (1760), Hogarth’s image of Trim reading the sermon appeared as a frontispiece with reference to the text at ‘Vol. 2, page 128.’ In this edition of 1782, the text reference has gone, leaving only the succinct ‘Frontispiece. Vol. I’ at top; no doubt a helpful reminder to the binder. Joseph Collyer (1748–1827) engraved this image; the first was done by Simon François Ravenet (1706- 1764), one of Hogarth’s assistants.]]> Laurence Sterne]]> Books]]> Dramas and Other Poems by Metastasio (Pietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, 1698–1782), thought otherwise. Each of the three volumes contain a frontispiece evoking a dramatic scene, like this one of Zopyrus striking at Zenobia, while Rhadamistus readies himself to prevent the action. Drawn by Thomas Stothard (1755-1834), a Royal Academy member, and friend of William Blake, the image is apt, especially for Metastasio, who was known to conjure up dramatic situations in his works. This scene was engraved by Anker Smith (1759–1819), a printmaker and miniature painter, who was related to the translator, John Hoole.]]> Pietro Metastasio]]> Books]]> The Times, purchased a patent for a new method of printing from logotypes (i.e. founts of words or portions of words, instead of letters), and printed this 1785 edition of Robinson Crusoe using this method. The frontispiece he commissioned for it is an important one, because it was the first instance of the elevation of this classic scene to frontispiece status (Blewett, 1986). Drawn by the Boston-born Mather Brown (1761–1831), the image was engraved by Robert Pollard (1755–1838), an English engraver and painter who specialised in naval and sea-battle scenes.]]> Daniel Defoe]]> Books]]> Poems carries a pencil note on the front endpapers, and hints at the fate of many such frontispieces through the actions of a number of print collectors: ‘This book has become very scarce. So many having been broken up for the portrait. The portrait sells for £1. 15/- alone.’ It is a striking soft-toned frontispiece, depicting Robinson’s obvious beauty, despite the fact that when it was painted, about 1783, she had just suffered partial paralysis. The painter was her friend Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), who was at the height of his popularity as a painter, especially of portraits. While Thomas Burke (1749-1815), the Irish-born engraver, worked his own magic on it, it was surely Reynold’s reputation that generated the demand for the image.]]> Mary Robinson]]> Books]]> Paradise Lost. Produced in folio format for the first time, and ‘adorn’d with sculptures’, the publisher no doubt wanted to make a ‘splash’ for one of England’s greatest poets. William Faithorne (1616-1691) was a painter who had done portraits of notables such as Oliver Cromwell, Queen Catherine, Cardinal Richelieu, and Thomas Hobbes. Previously used for the History of Britain (1670), his more kindly portrait of Milton (1608-1674) was re-worked by Richard White, a prolific English engraver.]]> John Milton]]> Books]]> Edward Kimber]]> Books]]> The History of John Gilpin (1785), became the most ‘popular poem of the decade’. It was aided in its popularity by the energetic reading of it by actor William Henderson at the Freemason’s Tavern in London in 1785. This foldout frontispiece is by engraver David Blakemore Pyet (1759-95), and contains a scene from the poem with accompanying verse. The image serves as both an advertisement and a point of difference – book illustrations were used to distinguish or ‘assert [the publisher’s] editions’ difference from others on the market’ (Sandro Jung, 2015). Publishers worked with designers and engravers to produce a more marketable product.]]> Selected by Dr Goldsmith]]> Books]]> Description and Use is described as a ‘puff’ piece that was written for orrery, globe, and instrument manufacturer, Thomas Wright in the mid-18th century. Fundamentally, the book is an instruction manual on how to use your orrery or globe. Fortuitously you can buy one – as depicted in the frontispiece – from Wright’s apprentice and successor, Benjamin Cole (1695-1766). At the rear of the book is a list of items available for purchase at Cole’s ‘Orrery, near the Globe Tavern, in Fleet-street’.]]> Joseph Harris]]> Books]]> Ship of Fools, based on Sebastian Brant’s famous satire of 1494. Note the jesters with bells herding the ‘Fools’ through the archway. Naval matters were obviously hard to dismiss. Austin, an unknown illustrator, has produced a title-page image that depicts the dysfunctional crew finally on the water.]]> W. H. Ireland]]> Books]]>