The Bliss binders: Staggemeier & Welcher

The German emigré binders, Staggemeier and Welcher, were one of the most prominent London firms of their day; they were certainly in partnership by 1799, but in all probability some years earlier. They stayed together until about 1810, and then worked separately, though as neighbours. They ran a very prolific workshop, producing many bindings for James Edwards, amongst others.

The partnership of Staggemeier & Welcher is represented by just one binding in the Bliss library.

STORIA NATURALE DEGLI UCCELLI trattata con Methodo e Adornata di Figure Intagliate in Rame e Miniate al Naturale (Ital. and Lat.) 5 vols. 599 coloured plates, with MS. description to each in English, green morocco, joints, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier and Welcher  Firenze 1767
1826 sale, lot 349

However, L. Staggemeier, working alone, provided her with nineteen bindings.

Abrégé Historique des Principaux Traits de la Vie de Confucius Célébre Philosophe Chinois, 24 fine engravings by Helman, Paris; Faits memorables des Empereurs de la Chine, with MS. translations in English, 24 fine engravings, Paris 1788, calf extra, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier, in 1 vol.
1826 sale, lot 28

ALBIN’S (E.) NATURAL HISTORY of BIRDS, with Supplement, INSECTS, ESCULENT FISH, an Essay on the breeding of Fish and on Fish Ponds, by North, 5 vols, numerous beautiful coloured plates, red morocco, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1738-94
1826 sale, lot 27

Audebert (J. B.) Histoire Naturelle des Singes et des Makis, LARGE PAPER, the plates most exquisitely coloured, russia, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  Paris 1800
1826 sale, lot 89

BROOKSHAW’S (GEO.) POMONA BRITANNICA, a Collection of the most esteemed Fruits cultivated in this Country, 93 plates beautifully coloured by the Author, russia extra, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1812
1826 sale, lot 105

Bürgher (G. A.) Leonora, German, and English, by Spencer, with proof plates, from Lady Diana Beauclerc’s designs, printed on drawing paper, gold borders, splendidly bound in red morocco, broad gold borders, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier Bensley  1796
1826 sale, lot 109

CATESBY’S (MARK) NATURAL HISTORY OF CAROLINA, FLORIDA, AND THE BAHAMA ISLANDS, (Fr. and Eng.) AN ORIGINAL COPY, with 220 plates accurately coloured from nature, russia, joints, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1771
1826 sale, lot 116

CHINESE DRAWINGS, 134 exquisite original Drawings, illustrating the Trades, Costumes and Manners of the Chinese, by Artists of that Nation, mounted, guarded, and bound in red morocco, broad gold border, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier
1826 sale, lot 484

CHINESE DRAWINGS, a Collection of 61 beautiful original Drawings, to illustrate the Costume, Manners and Amusements of the Chinese, mounted, splendidly bound in red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier
1826 sale, lot 487

Costume of Portugal, Fr. and Eng. 50 coloured engravings, red morocco, elegant, by Staggemeier
1826 sale, lot 61

Costume of Yorkshire, 40 coloured engravings, with descriptions in Fr. and Eng. calf extra, marble leaves, by Staggemeier  1814
1826 sale, lot 136

Faulkner’s (T.) Historical and Topographical Account of Fulham, including Hammersmith, LARGE PAPER, plates, and illustrated with many fine ports. by Lombart, Vander Gucht, Hopwood,  Romney, &c. Views of Churches and Public Buildings, russia,  extra, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1813
1826 sale, lot 223

HODGE’S (WM.) SELECT VIEWS IN INDIA, 48 coloured engravings with Descriptions in Fr. and Eng. superbly bound in variegated morocco, inlaid, broad gold borders, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1785
1826 sale, lot 272

Howitt’s (Samuel) New Work of Animals from the Fables of Æsop, Gay, and Phædrus, 100 coloured plates, red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1811
1826 sale, lot 239

Hunter’s (William) Travels through France, Turkey, and Hungary to Vienna. 2 vols, LARGE PAPER, illustrated with many coloured Costumes of those Countries, red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1803
1826 sale, lot 201

INDIAN AND CHINESE DRAWINGS, 83 magnificent original Drawings, representing the Dresses, Habits, Trades, Manufactures and Amusements of India and China, mounted, and bound in russia, joints, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier
1826 sale, lot 509

Lister (M.) Historiæ sive synopsis Methodicæ Conchyliorum et Tabularum Anatomicarum recens, et Indicibus Huddesford, 2 vols, a multitude of plates of Shells, russia, broad gold borders, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  Oxon. 1770
1826 sale, lot 290

SACRE DE NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, a Collection of Engravings, PROOFS, before the letter, mounted on drawing paper, with both the plates of “l’arrivée à Notre Dame,” sumptuously bound in red morocco, joints, silk inside, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier
1826 sale, lot 342

Thornton’s (R. J.) New Illustration of the Sexual System of Linnæus, portraits and coloured plates, russia, extra, joints, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1807
1826 sale, lot 355

VIEILLOT (L.  P.) HISTOIRE NATURELLE de plus Beaux Oiseaux Chanteurs de la Zone Torride, LARGE PAPER, 70 exquisite coloured engravings, russia extra, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  Paris 1805
1826 sale, lot 364

Views Turkey in Europe, comprising Romelia, Bulgaria, and Wallachia, 41 exquisite highly finished coloured views by Watts, with descriptions in Fr. and Eng. russia extra, gold borders, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier  1804
1826 sale, lot 363

Samuel Welcher completed six bindings for Mrs. Bliss.

Bavrn (J. G.) Iconographia, complectens in se Passionem, Miracula, Vitam Christi Universam, 148 engravings by Melchior, Küsell, &c. blue morocco, gilt leaves, by Welcher  1670
1826 sale, lot 37

Boydell’s (John) Collection of Views in England and Wales, to which are added, Miscellaneous Subjects after various Masters, fine impressions, red morocco, joints, gold borders, gilt leaves, by Welcher  1790
1826 sale, lot 101

Daudin (F. M.) Histoire Naturelle des Rainetts, des Grenouilles et des Crapauds, 38 coloured plates, calf extra, gilt leaves, by Welcher  Paris 1804
1826 sale, lot 72

Harris’s (Moses) Exposition of English Insects, Fr. and Eng., exhibiting on 51 copper plates, near 500
figures, beautifully coloured by Harris, red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Welcher  1782
1826 sale, lot 233

HINDOO DRAWINGS, 39 original Drawings, richly coloured, to illustrate the Months of the Year, signs of the Zodiac, Amusements, &c. of the Hindoos, with MS. Descriptions in English, mounted, guarded, and bound in green morocco, joints, gold borders, and gilt leaves, by Welcher
1826 sale, lot 483

Meyrick (S. R.) and C. H. Smith’s Costume of the original Inhabitants of the British Islands, 24 coloured plates, by Havell, calf extra, gilt leaves, by Welcher  Bulmer 1815
1826 sale, lot 306

This sequence suggests that Mrs. Bliss commissioned these bindings quite late in the history of her library (after 1810) or else purchased them from James Edwards complete with their Staggemeier or Welcher bindings.

References

Ellic Howe.—A list of London bookbinders, 1648-1815.—London : Bibliographical Society, 1950.

Charles Ramsden.—London bookbinders, 1780-1840.—London : Batsford, 1956.

The Bliss binders: Smith

C. Smith produced nine bindings for Mrs. Bliss.

Bewick’s 25 original Drawings of Dogs, neatly mounted, with Portrait of Bewick, red morocco, gold borders, by C. Smith

1826 sale, lot 507

Cérémonies et Fêtes du Sacre et Couronnement de leurs Majestés Impériales Napoleon I. et son Auguste Epouse, fine coloured engravings, with several additional portraits added, sumptuously bound in red morocco, gold borders, the imperial arms, gilt leaves, by C. Smith  Paris 1806

1826 sale, lot 117

Contadini della Toscana Espressi al Naturale secondo le Diverse loro Vestiture, 60 highly coloured plates of Costumes, stained morocco, gilt leaves, by C. Smith  Firenze 1796

1826 sale, lot 125

Description des Cérémonies et des Fêtes qui ont en lieu pour le Couronnement de leurs Majestés Napoléon Empereur des Français et Roi d’Italie et Josephine son Auguste Epouse, highly coloured engravings with many fine coloured portraits added, elegantly bound in red morocco, joints, broad gold borders, the imperial Arms, gilt leaves; by C. Smith  Paris 1807

1826 sale, lot 147

Histoire Naturelle des plus rares Curiositez de la Mer des Indes, 2 vols in 1, 100 coloured plates, calf extra, gilt leaves, by C. Smith  Amst. 1754

1826 sale, lot 274

Jenkins’s (J.) Martial Achievements of Great Britain and her Allies from 1799 to 1813, beautiful coloured engravings, red morocco, gilt leaves by C. Smith  1817

1826 sale, lot 256

Paintings of Saints, &c. 76 most exquisite miniature paintings, representing the Death of Christ, the Apostles, Virgin Mary, Saints, Martyrs, &c. mounted, and splendidly bound in red morocco, gilt leaves, by C. Smith

1826 sale, lot 465

Percier (C.) et P. F. L. Fontaine Description des Cérémonies et des Fêtes qui ont en lieu pour le Mariage de S. M. l’Empereur Napoleon avec S. A. I. Madame l’Archiduchesse Marie Louise D’Autriche, coloured engravings, 4 fine Portraits added, splendidly bound in red morocco, broad gold borders, with the Imperial Arms, gilt leaves, by C. Smith  Paris 1800

1826 sale, lot 319

Royal Family of France, represented in 8 engravings, green morocco, gilt leaves by C. Smith

1826 sale, lot 384

References

Ellic Howe.—A list of London bookbinders, 1648-1815.—London : Bibliographical Society, 1950.

Charles Ramsden.—London bookbinders, 1780-1840.—London : Batsford, 1956.

The Bliss binders: Murton

Charles Murton, of Long Acre, "a fine binder, specialising in blind stamping", completed three bindings for Mrs.Bliss.

Costume of the Army of the British Empire, according to the Regulations of 1814, 60 coloured, engravings, red morocco, gold border, gilt leaves, by Murton  1815
1826 sale, lot 134

Jacob’s (Wm.) Travels in the South of Spain, map and coloured plates, calf extra, marble leaves, by Murton  1811
1826 sale, lot 252

Jenkins’s (J.) Naval  Achievements of Great Britain from 1793 to 1817, engravings highly coloured
calf extra, marble leaves, by Murton  1817
1826 sale, lot 257

References

Charles Ramsden.—London bookbinders, 1780-1840.—London : Batsford, 1956.

The Bliss binders: Lewis

Charles Lewis ("that Coryphaeus of book-binders"—DIBDIN) is one of the great names of English nineteenth-century binding. Lewis was born in London in 1786, the son of an Hanoverian immigrant, Johann Ludwig; he was apprenticed in London, to another German immigrant, Henry Walther and spent all his life there. He was perhaps Mrs. Bliss's favourite binder, completing some twenty-six bindings for her library.

Alexander’s (Wm.) Costume of China, illustrated in 48 coloured plates, red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis  1805
1826 sale, lot 20

BATH, illustrated by a Series of Views from the Drawings of J. C. Nattes, with Descriptions, 28 plates and 2 vignettes, beautifully coloured, 1805; VERSAILLES, PARIS, and ST. DENIS, a Series of Views from Drawings by J. C. Nattes, with Descriptions, 40 plates, coloured, in 1 vol, russia, elegant, gilt leaves, by Lewis  1809
1826 sale, lot 91

Burgess’s (Sir J. B.) Birth and Triumph of Love, a Poem, 24 engravings, by Tomkins, splendidly bound in green morocco, broad gold borders, joints, gilt leaves, by C. Lewis  1796
1826 sale, lot 46

CHINESE DRAWINGS, a collection of 50 richly coloured Drawings, illustrating the Mythology of the Chinese, mounted and bound in green morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by C. Lewis
1826 sale, lot 494

CHINESE DRAWINGS, a collection of 103 original Drawings, illustrating the Heathen Mythology of the Chinese, most beautifully coloured, inlaid, and bound in red morocco, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 518

COSTUME AND MANNERS OF THE HINDOOS, a collection of 30 original Drawings, to illustrate the Costume and Manners of the Hindoos, highly coloured, with descriptions on the back of each, guarded and bound in blue morocco, joints, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 489

COSTUME AND MANNERS OF THE PERSIANS, 53 highly finished original Drawings, representing the Manners and Customs of the Persians, with rich borders, splendidly bound in blue morocco, joints, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 482

COSTUME AND MANNERS OF THE PERSIANS, represented in 33 original exquisite Drawings, beautifully coloured, with borders and sprinkled with gold, guarded and bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 488

COSTUMES OF THE PERSIANS, a collection of 59 original Drawings, illustrating the Costume, Manners, and Amusements of the Persians, most exquisitely coloured, with borders, and sprinkled with gold, bound in green morocco, elegant, gilt leaves, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 511

Daniell’s (T. and W.) Picturesque Voyage to India by the way of China, a multitude of beautiful coloured plates, with descriptions, splendidly bound in red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis  1810
1826 sale, lot 71

Donovan’s (E.) Natural History of the Insects of India, and the Islands in the Indian Seas, beautiful coloured plates, red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis  1800
1826 sale, lot 76

Donovan’s (E.) Natural History of the Insects of China, plates, exquisitely coloured, red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis  1798
1826 sale, lot 77

Ehret (G. D) Plantæ Selectæ quarum Imagines ad Exemplaria Naturalia Londini in Hortis Curiosorum Nutrita manu Artificiosa Doctaque Pinxit, 2 portraits, and 78 finely coloured engravings, calf extra, gilt leaves by Lewis  1750
1826 sale, lot 159

Foreign Field Sports, Fisheries, Sporting Anecdotes, &c. &c. with a supplement of New South Wales, 100 beautiful coloured plates, from drawings by Howitt, Atkinson, Clark, Manskirch, &c. red morocco elegant, gilt leaves, by Lewis  1814
1826 sale, lot 224

Harding’s (Edwd.) Portraits of the Whole of the Royal Family, engraved from the original Pictures, with duplicate portraits, plain and coloured, and 2 additional prints, most splendidly bound in red morocco, joints, broad gold borders, silk insides, by Lewis  1806
1826 sale, lot 178

HINDOO DRAWINGS, a collection of 25 original Drawings, to illustrate the Costume and Manners of the Hindoos, most exquisitely coloured, guarded, and bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 515

HINDOO TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS, 43 original highly finished Drawings, with borders and descriptions, to illustrate the Trades, Occupations, Costumes, &c. of the Hindoos, guarded, and bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 516

HINDOO TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS — containing 42 beautiful Drawings, uniform with the preceding [lot 516], by Lewis1826 sale, lot 517

MAYER’S (LUIGI) VIEWS in Egypt, Palestine, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, from original Drawings by Sir R. Ainslie, 2 vols, 72 highly coloured engravings, with descriptions in Fr. and Eng. Bensley 1801, Spilsbury’s Picturesque Scenery in the Holy Land and Syria, 2 portraits, and 16 beautiful coloured plates, with letter-press explanations, Bulmer 1803, in 1 vol, splendidly bound in red morocco, joints, broad gold border, gilt leaves, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 298

MAYER’S (LUIGI) VIEWS in the Ottoman  Dominions in Europe, in Asia, and some of the Mediterranean Islands, from original Drawings taken by Sir R. Ainslie, 71 beautiful coloured plates, with descriptions in Fr. and Eng. russia extra, gilt leaves, by Lewis  Bowyer  1810
1826 sale, lot 297

ORIGINAL DRAWINGS OF BIRDS, a collection of upwards of 200 beautiful coloured original Drawings, illustrating the Ornithology of the Orientals, mounted and superbly bound, in 2 vols, red morocco, joints, gold borders, gilt leaves, by Lewis
1826 sale, lot 508

RELIGION, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS OF THE HINDOOS a collection of 52 original Drawings to illustrate the Religion, Customs, and Manners of the Hindoos, exquisitely coloured, mounted and bound in green morocco, broad gold borders, joints, gilt leaves, by C. Lewis
1826 sale, lot 491

ROXBURGH’S (WM.) PLANTS OF THE COAST OF COROMANDEL; selected from Drawings and Descriptions presented to the Directors of the East India Company, published under the direction of Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. 200 fine coloured engravings, russia extra, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis  Bulmer 1795
1826 sale, lot 338

Smith’s (C. H.) Selections of the Ancient Costume of Great Britain and Ireland from the 7th to the 16th Century, 60 coloured engravings, calf extra, broad gold border, gilt leaves, by Lewis  Bulmer 1814
1826 sale, lot 348

Somervile’s (W.) Chase, a Poem, illustrated with fine plates, by Howitt, Heath, Scott, Tookey, Stothard, &c., russia, extra, broad gold border, gilt leaves, by Lewis Bulmer 1796
1826 sale, lot 436

Young’s (John) SERIES of Portraits of the Emperors of Turkey from the Foundation of the Monarchy to the Year 1815, engraved from Pictures painted at Constantinople, with Biographical Account of each of the Emperors, LARGE PAPER, the portraits richly coloured, red morocco, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Lewis  1818
1826 sale, lot 372

References

Ellic Howe.—A list of London bookbinders, 1648-1815.—London : Bibliographical Society, 1950.

Thomas Frognall Dibdin.—The bibliographical decameron; or, Ten days pleasant discourse upon illuminated manuscripts, and subjects connected with early engraving, typography, and bibliography.—3 vol.—London : Printed for the author,  1817.

Howard M. Nixon & Mirjam M. Foot.—The History of Decorated Bookbinding in England.—Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1992.

Charles Ramsden.—London bookbinders, 1780-1840.—London : Batsford, 1956.

The Bliss binders: Hering

... a worthy, industrious and extremely skilful binder. Indeed, after Roger Payne, he was, some twelve or fifteen years, the Leader of his Bretheren. His workmanship or style of binding was rather sound and substantial, than elegant and classical: but for a good thumping folio, or quarto, of Antiquities or Topography, or a fine fat Leipsic printed octavo--you could not do better than employ the said Charles Hering.—DIBDIN.

Charles Hering was probably of German descent, like so many binders of the period. Many of his early bindings are in the style of Roger Payne, and after the latter's death Hering worked for the leading bibliophiles of the period. He completed just one binding for Mrs. Bliss, a restrained, sympathetic and appropriate binding for a Book of Hours, with Hering's white paper label on the front pastedown.





LIBER PRÆCUM, MS. ON VELLUM, 14 beautiful illuminations, (2 very curious, John’s Head in a Charger and the Cutting off the High Priest’s Ear,) with borders and capitals, bound in maroon, coloured morocco, joints, gilt edges, by Hering
1826 sale, lot 461

(Lot 29 in a Christie's sale of Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts, Wednesday 12 June 2013. It sold for £40,000 to a US trade buyer, presumably Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books, within whose stock it now resides. My thanks to Peter Kidd for tracking the movements of this MS and supplying the photograph.)

References

Ellic Howe.—A list of London bookbinders, 1648-1815.—London : Bibliographical Society, 1950.

Thomas Frognall Dibdin.—The bibliographical decameron; or, Ten days pleasant discourse upon illuminated manuscripts, and subjects connected with early engraving, typography, and bibliography.—3 vol.—London : Printed for the author, 1817.

Howard M. Nixon & Mirjam M. Foot.—The history of decorated bookbinding in England.—Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1992.

Charles Ramsden.—London bookbinders, 1780-1840.—London : Batsford, 1956.

The Bliss binders: Faulkner

Henry Faulkner apparently completed just the one binding for Mrs. Bliss.

Ægidus de Roma du Gouvernement des Princes et des Roys [Manuscript of the XIIIth Century, upon vellum, with illuminations, curiously bound in russia, gilt leaves, by Faulkner]
1826 sale, lot 83

References

Ellic Howe.—A list of London bookbinders, 1648-1815.—London : Bibliographical Society, 1950.

Charles Ramsden.—London bookbinders, 1780-1840.—London : Batsford, 1956.

The Bliss binders: Bohn

John Bohn was born in Germany in 1757, came to England in 1790, and started up on his own in London in 1795. He bound until 1815 and then took to bookselling. He died in 1845. His son was the famous mid-nineteenth-century publisher H.G. Bohn. He completed eight bindings for Mrs. Bliss.

Beaumont’s (Albanis) Travels through the Rhetian Alps in 1786, from Italy to Germany through Tyrol, map and coloured plates, green morocco, gilt leaves, by Bohn  1792
1826 sale, lot 94

A Collection of Flowers, drawn, after Nature, and disposed of in an ornamental and picturesque manner, 64 coloured plates, calf extra, marble leaves by Bohn 1793
1826 sale, lot 158

Costume of Great Britain, 60 coloured plates with descriptions, by W. H. Pyne; Costume of the Russian Army, 9 coloured plates, and 5 coloured plates; Costume of China, with descriptions in Fr. and Eng., in 1 vol, red morocco, gilt leaves, by Bohn
1826 sale, lot 135

EDWARDS’S (GEO.) NATURAL HISTORY of Birds, and Gleanings in Natural History, Fr. and Eng., 7 vols, AN ORIGINAL COPY, the plates beautifully coloured, russia, marble leaves, by Bohn  1748-1806
1826 sale, lot 216

Italian Scenery; representing the Manners, Customs, and Amusements of the different States of Italy, 32 coloured engravings by Godby, from Drawings by Lerberghi, red morocco, gilt leaves, by Bohn  1806
1826 sale, lot 250

Landi’s (G.) Architectural Decorations of original designs invented from the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Etruscan, &c. for exterior and interior Decoration of Galleries, Halls, Apartments, &c. coloured plates, blue morocco, gilt leaves, by Bohn  1810
1826 sale, lot 285

SOLVYNS (F. B.) HINDOUS, ou Description de leurs Mœurs, Coutumes et Ceremonies, 4 vols, a multitude of coloured engravings, with descriptions in Fr. and Eng. red morocco, elegant, broad gold border, joints, gilt leaves, by Bohn  Paris 1808
1826 sale, lot 345

Thomson’s (Jas.) Seasons, illustrated with engravings by Bartolozzi and Tomkins, from pictures by Hamilton, finely coloured, red morocco, elegant, gilt leaves, by Bohn  Bensley 1807
1826 sale, lot 442

References

Ellic Howe.—A list of London bookbinders, 1648-1815.—London : Bibliographical Society, 1950.

Howard M. Nixon & Mirjam M. Foot.—The history of decorated bookbinding in England.—Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1992.

Charles Ramsden.—London bookbinders, 1780-1840.—London : Batsford, 1956.

The Bliss binders: Benedict

 

Benedict (originally Benedikt) was one of a number of German bookbinders working in London and patronised by Mrs. Bliss.

Baumgarten and Benedict.] Two German binders, in this country, of considerable employment and reputation in their day. Substantial volumes in russia, with marbled edges, are the chief characteristics of their bibliopegistic atchievements.—'non omnia possumus omnes.'—DIBDIN.

Benedict carried out at least six bindings for Mrs. Bliss.

 

Chinese Drawings, a collection of 46, representing the Customs, Habits, &c. of China,  mounted and bound in russia, joints by Benedict
1826 sale, lot 520

A Missal MS. on Vellum, with 26 beautiful Miniatures, exquisitely finished representing Life, Death, and Sufferings of Christ, Interment, Pentecost, the Evangelists, Jewish Ceremonies, &c. with rich broad emblematical borders throughout, bound in velvet, silk inside, &c. by Benedict

1826 sale, lot 477

Repton’s (H.) Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, coloured plates; russia, marble leaves, by Benedict  1805

1826 sale, lot 422

Smith’s (Geo.) Collection of Designs for Household Furniture, and Interior Decoration, 158 coloured plates, calf extra, gilt leaves, by Benedict  1808

1826 sale, lot 433

References

Ellic Howe.—A list of London bookbinders, 1648-1815.—London : Bibliographical Society, 1950.

Thomas Frognall Dibdin.—The bibliographical decameron; or, Ten days pleasant discourse upon illuminated manuscripts, and subjects connected with early engraving, typography, and bibliography.—3 vol.—London : Printed for the author,  1817.

Charles Ramsden.—London bookbinders, 1780-1840.—London : Batsford, 1956.

Oriental MSS in the 1826 Bliss sale

The title-page of the 1826 sale of Mrs. Bliss's Bibliotheca Splendidissima notes that a substantial portion of her library was taken up by Oriental manuscripts

An extensive, rare and valuable Collection of Original | Persian, Chinese, Turkish, Hindostan, and other Drawings, | exquisitely finished, representing the Manners, Amuse- | ments, Customs, Dress, Trades, Architecture, Manufactures | and Costumes of the Eastern Nations.
Indeed, material from the Middle East and Asia, including books, manuscripts and even paintings, in languages such as Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Sanskrit, and Turkish, made up some fifty-three lots, or 6.5 % of the entire sale. (Western manuscripts totalled 5.4 % of the lots for sale.)

lot
481 PERSIAN MS. a Biographical Dictionary of the Lives of eminent Persian Characters, with 72 original Drawings, calf extra, gilt leaves
[sold for £5.0.0]

ORIGINAL PERSIAN, CHINESE, TURKISH, HIN

DOSTAN, AND OTHER DRAWINGS.

482 COSTUME AND MANNERS OF THE PERSIANS, 53 highly finished original Drawings, representing the Manners and Customs of the Persians, with rich Borders, splendidly bound in blue morocco, joints, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Lewis
[sold for £35.14.0]
483 HINDOO DRAWINGS, 39 original Drawings, richly coloured, to illustrate the Months of the Year, signs of the Zodiac, Amusements, &c. of the Hindoos, with MS. Descriptions in English, mounted, guarded, and bound in green morocco, joints, gold borders, and gilt leaves, by Welcher
[sold for £9.9.0]
484 CHINESE DRAWINGS, 134 exquisite original Drawings, illustrating the Trades, Costumes and Manners of the Chinese, by Artists of that Nation, mounted, guarded, and bound in red morocco, broad gold border, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier
[sold for £19.19.0]
485 CHINESE DRAWINGS, a Collection of 96 original Drawings, exemplifying the Method of Manufacturing Porcelain, Charcoal, &c. by the Chinese, guarded, and bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves
[sold for £12.7.6]
486 CHINESE DRAWINGS, a Collection of 71 original Drawings, exemplifying the Method of Manufacturing Silk, by the Chinese, guarded and bound in blue morocco, uniform with the preceding
[sold for £19.9.6]
487 CHINESE DRAWINGS, a Collection of 61 beautiful original Drawings, to illustrate the Costume, Manners and Amusements of the Chinese, mounted, splendidly bound in red morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier
[sold for £18.19.6]
488 COSTUME AND MANNERS OF THE PERSIANS, represented in 33 original exquisite Drawings, beautifully coloured, with borders and sprinkled with gold, guarded and bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis
[sold for £14.3.6]
489 COSTUME AND MANNERS OF THE HINDOOS, a collection of 30 original Drawings, to illustrate the Costume and Manners of the Hindoos, highly coloured, with descriptions on the back of each, guarded and bound in blue morocco, joints, by Lewis
[sold for £11.11.0]
...
491 RELIGION, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS OF  THE HINDOOS a collection of 52 original Drawings to illustrate the Religion, Customs, and Manners of the Hindoos, exquisitely coloured, mounted and bound in green morocco, broad gold borders, joints, gilt leaves, by C. Lewis
[sold for £12.12.0]
...
493 HINDOO DRAWINGS, 30 original Drawings, exhibiting a great variety of Attitudes, Feats of Activity, Strength, Tumbling, &c. which are performed by sets of Mendicant People in India, with descriptions, half bound
[sold for £5.5.0]
494 CHINESE DRAWINGS, a collection of 50 richly coloured Drawings, illustrating the Mythology of the Chinese, mounted and bound in green morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by C. Lewis
[sold for £15.4.6]
495 HINDOO DRAWINGS, a collection of 49 exquisite highly coloured original Drawings, illustrating the Manners, Costumes, and Trades of the Hindoos, guarded and splendidly bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves
[sold for £12.12.0]
496 Chinese Fish, 34 Drawings of the Fishes of China, coloured, calf extra, marble leaves
[sold for £4.0.0]
...
498 Lives of the Brahmins, exhibited in 33 original Drawings, (the Ceremonies from the Birth of a Brahmin, and terminating with that of a Brahmin Woman burning herself upon the funeral pile of her  Husband,) with MS. descriptions, neatly bound
[sold for £9.9.0]
499 COSTUME OF INDIA, illustrated in 17 exquisite original Drawings of  the Costumes, Manners, &c. of India, mounted, and superbly bound in red morocco, broad gold border, gilt leaves
[sold for £7.7.0]
500 ARCHITECTURE OF INDIA, 12 beautiful large original Drawings, representing the Palaces and Public Buildings of India, with a fine Portrait of Assoph Ul Dowlah, painted for Captain Edwards, his Aid-de-Camp, and 3 Drawings of Natural History at the end, half bound, morocco, atlas folio
[sold for £5.10.0]
501 HINDOO IDOLS, a collection of 45 original Drawings, exhibiting Views of all the Idols or Swammies, which are in the Pagoda on the Rock in the Fort of Tritchinopoly
[sold for £14.0.0]
502 HINDOO DRAWINGS, 27 most exquisitely finished original Drawings, with borders, of Nabobs with their Officers of State, Hindoo Women, and Amusements, neatly bound
[sold for £5.13.6]
503 HINDOO EMPERORS, RAJAHS, &c. a collection of 39 beautiful Drawings of Emperors and Chiefs, including Timur, Nadur Shah, Surajah Dowlah, Tippo Saib, Mahomed Shah, Shah Allum, Cassim Ali, Cawn, &c. &c. with borders, very fine
[sold for £4.15.0]
504 HINDOO DRAWINGS, 12 fine original exquisitely coloured Drawings of Nabobs, Viziers, Warriors, &c. &c.
[sold for £2.4.0]
505 HINDOO DRAWINGS, 8 ditto, very fine, Hunting, Horsemanship, Wild Sports of the East, &c. &c.
[sold for £1.18.0]
506 HINDOO DRAWINGS, 3 ditto, Mahomet carried into Paradise, six Mahometan Saints, and Hindoo Idols, very fine
[sold for £1.5.0]
...
508 ORIGINAL DRAWINGS OF BIRDS, a collection of upwards of 200 beautiful coloured original Drawings, illustrating the Ornithology of the Orientals, mounted and superbly bound, in 2 vols, red morocco, joints, gold borders, gilt leaves, by Lewis
[sold for £42.0.0]
509 INDIAN AND CHINESE DRAWINGS, 83 magnificent original Drawings, representing the Dresses, Habits, Trades, Manufactures and Amusements of India and China, mounted, and bound in russia, joints, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier
[sold for £15.0.0]
510 ORIENTAL DRAWINGS, 29 beautiful original Drawings, representing the Manners of the East, in a folio volume, half bound, morocco
[sold for £5.15.6]
511 COSTUMES OF THE PERSIANS, a collection of 59 original Drawings, illustrating the Costume, Manners, and Amusements of the Persians, most exquisitely coloured, with borders, and sprinkled with gold, bound in green morocco, elegant, gilt leaves, by Lewis
[sold for £18.18.0]
512 CHINESE DRAWINGS, 15 highly coloured original Drawings, representing the Heathen Mythology of the Chinese, very curious, half bound, russia
[sold for £6.6.0]
513 HINDOO DRAWINGS, a collection of 23 original Drawings, beautifully executed on cards, illustrating the Trades, &c. of the Hindoos, in a red morocco case
[not sold?]
...
515 HINDOO DRAWINGS, a collection of 25 original Drawings, to illustrate the Costume and Manners of the Hindoos, most exquisitely coloured, guarded, and bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis
[sold for £10.10.0]
516 HINDOO TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS, 43 original highly finished Drawings, with borders and descriptions, to illustrate the Trades, Occupations, Costumes, &c. of the Hindoos, guarded, and bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves, by Lewis
[sold for £11.11.0]
517 HINDOO TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS — containing 42 beautiful Drawings, uniform with the preceding, by Lewis
[sold for £11.0.0]
518 CHINESE DRAWINGS, a collection of 103 original Drawings, illustrating the Heathen Mythology of the Chinese, most beautifully coloured, inlaid, and bound in red morocco, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Lewis
[sold for £29.0.0]
...
520 Chinese Drawings, a collection of 46, representing the Customs, Habits, &c. of China,  Mounted and bound in russia, joints by Benedict
[sold for £3.15.0]
...
522 HINDOO DRAWINGS, an assemblage of 70 exquisitely finished original Drawings of Emperors and Kings of Hindostan, various Costumes, Habits, Manners, &c. of the East, neatly bound
[sold for £7.10.0]
523 VUES DES MONUMENS DE CANTON, 110 original Chinese Drawings, Views in Canton mounted and half bound, in yellow morocco, joints, gold borders, gilt leaves
(From the Townley Collection.)
[sold for £8.15.0]
524 HINDOO DRAWINGS, a volume containing 26 miscellaneous beautifully coloured  Drawings of Portraits, Costumes, &c.
[sold for £3.15.0]
525 DITTO,  ditto,   12 various
[sold for £1.6.0]
526 DITTO,  24 ditto
[sold for £2.19.0]
527 DITTO,  24 ditto
[sold for £3.7.6]
528 CHINESE DRAWINGS, a collection of 32 original highly coloured Drawings, representing the Arts, Trades, Manufactures, Agriculture, &c. of China, half bound
[sold for £4.4.0]
529 DITTO,  27 ditto, Flowers, Trades, Costumes, &c.
[sold for £3.15]
530 Oriental Drawings, 47 Drawings exhibiting the Punishments, Religious Ceremonies, Superstitions, &c. of the East
[sold for £1.11.6]
...
533 Turkish Costume, 18 Drawings of coloured Costumes and 13 coloured Prints, ditto, calf gilt
[sold for £1.11.6]
...
535 CHINESE DRAWINGS, 10 beautiful original Chinese Drawings, Mandarins, and Ladies of Quality, exquisitely coloured, and mounted
[sold for £2.0.0]
536 DITTO,  26 ditto, representing the Trades and Manufactures of the Chinese, beautifully coloured
[sold for £4.4.0]
537 DITTO,  34 ditto, exhibiting the Trials, various modes Punishments, &c. of the Chinese
[sold for £5.10.0]
538 DITTO,  7 ditto, Military Officers, Mandarins, &c., very fine
[sold for £1.10.0]
539 HINDOO DRAWINGS, 8 original Drawings, representing the Costumes of the Hindoos, &c.
[sold for £1.0.0]
540 DITTO, 3 very large Drawings of Emperors, &c.
[sold for £3.10.0]
541 DITTO, 3 ditto, Processions and Costumes
[sold for £2.16.0]
542 DITT, 2 ditto, Hindoo Deities
[sold for £1.8.0 ]
543 Nineteen Chinese and Hindoo Drawings of Architecture, in a portfolio
[sold for £1.1.0]
544 Two Drawings, Turkish Costume, Wrestling, and Female Dancing
[sold for 7/-]

If, as I suggest, William Blake knew Mrs. Bliss and had some acquaintanceship with her book collection, then he would have had access to one of the most remarkable Oriental collections of his time with profound implications for his art.

MSS with a Bliss provenance III

Heures Gothique

"Heures Gothique, MS. on vellum, 15 miniatures, Life of Joseph, and Calendar, with painted capitals, red morocco, gilt edges"
This can be identified as a Psalter for Franciscan usage acquired by the Bodleian Library in Oxford with the Francis Douce bequest, & now MS. Douce 48. The lot sold for £14. 5s. 0d. to .... from whom it was purchased by Francis Douce. Bequeathed by Douce to the Bodleian Library. It is a manuscript of the late thirteenth century with fine miniatures & borders, & historiated & other initials by a second hand.

Bibliography

Bodleian Library, The Douce Legacy: an Exhibition to Commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Bequest of Francis Douce, 17571834 (Oxford, 1984), no.237
Bodleian Library, Latin Liturgical Manuscripts and Printed Books: Guide to an Exhibition (Oxford, 1952), no.51
Bodleian Library. Summary Catalogue of Western Manuscripts (Oxford, 1953), no.21622
R. Branner, Manuscript painting in Paris during the reign of St. Louis (Berkeley, 1977), 211, 246
Otto Pächt & J. J. G. Alexander, Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library (Oxford, 1966-73), no.532 & plate xl
J. F. Willard, "Occupations of the Months in Mediaeval Calendars", Bodleian Quarterly Record, (1932), 38.

The Bliss binders

The place that books have in the social values of the time is expressed in the frame built to hold them.—BARKER.

Rebekah Bliss gave fine bindings to her Blakes—unfortunately unattributed—indeed to many of her books. The title page of Mrs. Bliss’s 1819 sale (Bibliotheca splendidissima) draws our attention to the notable bookbinders employed on her library

... sumptuously and tastefully bound in morocco and russia, by Kalthoeber, Staggemeier, C. Lewis, Bohn, Welcher, C. Smith, Murton, and other eminent binders, regardless of expence, and finished in their best style.

The full list of binders credited in the sale catalogue is Benedict, Bohn, Faulkner, Hering, Lewis, Murton, Smith, Staggemeir, and Welcher. Curiously, though Kalthoeber is the first mentioned on the title page, none of the lots are attributed to his bindery. Note also how many of these binders are Germans working in London or of German descent.

Benedict is given as binder of lots 422, 433, 477, and 520.

To Bohn is attributed the binding of lots 94, 135, 158, 216, 250, 285, 345, and 442.

Faulkner (lot 83) and Hering (lot 461) are assigned just one binding each.

C. Lewis is apparently a favourite binder of Mrs. Bliss’s (lots 20, 46, 71, 76, 77, 91, 159, 178, 224, 297, 298, 338, 348, 372, 436, 482, 488, 489, 491, 494, 508, 511, 515, 516, 517, 518).

Murton bound 3 lots (134, 252, 257).

C. Smith carried out nine bindings (lots 117, 125, 147, 256, 274, 319, 384, 465, 507).

Just one binding is attributed to the firm of Staggemeier & Welcher (lot 349).

But Staggemeier alone, another favourite binder, bound lots 27, 28, 61, 89, 105, 109, 116, 136, 201, 223, 239, 272, 290, 342, 355, 363, 364, 484, 487, 509.

While attributed to Welcher alone are six bindings (lots, 37, 72, 101, 233, 306, 483).

Further Reading

Nicolas Barker, ed.—A Potencie of Life: Books in Society.—The Clark Lectures 1986-1987.—London : British Library, 1993.
ISBN 0712302875

J.C. Hüttner.—Englische Miscellen.—Tübingen, 1800-1805.
Bd. 6 (1802), 1-32, is the best-known contemporary source on German binders in London.

Howard M. Nixon, "The German binders in London in the late eighteeth century", in: Twelve books in fine bindings from the library of J. W. Hely-Hutschinson.—Oxford, 1953, (69-73).

Howard M. Nixon & Mirjam M. Foot.—The history of decorated bookbinding in England.—Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1992.

My thanks to Graham Jefcoate for this booklist.

MSS with a Bliss provenance II

Book of Hours (Use of Rome) "Holford Hours"

Lisboa, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, LA 210

Sotheby's 1932-06-07, no. 31

A. Chester Beatty

Holford

Longman

Place
•Region : Flanders
•Details : Bruges + Ghent ?

Date
•Date details : 1526 (c.1526 ?)
•Half centuries : 1500-1549
•Decade : 1520 - 1529

Physical description

Measurements
 •191 leaves
•Size categories of height : 175-199 mm
•Height of text blocks : 195 mm
•Width of text blocks : 130 mm

Emblems and Heraldry

portrayed man with unidentified arms

Miniaturists
 •Gerard Horenbout / M James IV of Scotland (and workshop)
•Simon Bening

Material

Parchment

Binding
 •Description : 1932 (red velvet) (the original binding was in blind-tooled leather, until 1816)
 •Dating : 1900-2000

Genre

books of hours and prayer books


Bibliography

Georges Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th centuries, Amsterdam 1987: S Bening

Thomas Kren & Scot McKendrick, with contributions by Maryan W. Ainsworth, Mari-Tere Alvarez, Brigitte Dekeyser, Richard Gay, Elisabeth Morrison & Catherine Reynolds, Illuminating the Renaissance. The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, exhib. cat., Los Angeles-London 2003, no. 127

Hanno Wijsman, Luxury Bound. Illustrated Manuscript Production and Noble and Princely Book Ownership in the Burgundian Netherlands (1400-1550), (Burgundica, xvi), Turnhout (Brepols), 2010a, p.119

James Marrow, ‘Simon Bening in 1521: a Group of Dated Manuscripts’, Frans Vanwijngaerden et al. (eds.), Liber amicorum Herman Liebaers, Brussels 1984, 537-559

MSS with a Bliss provenance I

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rouen, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM

[Rouen, c.1465]

124 x 90 mm. ii + 259 leaves: two inserted leaves, followed by 112, 2-38, 44, 5-158, 167 (of 8, lacking i), 17-358; ff.22v, 157-159v, 188v-191v and 277-279v are ruled blanks, 16 lines written in brown ink in a formal calligraphic bâtarde script between two verticals and 17 horizontals ruled in red, rubrics in purple-red, text capitals touched yellow, line-endings in blue and gold, one-line initials alternately in burnished gold and blue or in blue and red, at least one two-line initial on the vast majority of pages, in blue or pink with foliate infills on burnished gold grounds, each accompanied by a border to the outer margin of acanthus and sprays of flowers and fruit, and occasional flower-pots, with gold disks and leaves on hairline tendrils, FIFTEEN LARGE MINIATURES WITH FULL BORDERS OF STYLIZED ACANTHUS AND SEMI-NATURALISTIC FRUIT AND FLOWERS, the first on a gold ground, a further full border at the beginning of the weekday hours, these and several other prayers each with a four-line initial (lacking one leaf after f.120, occasional minor flaking, the penultimate border smudged, minor thumbing and creases). Blind-tooled straight-grained brown morocco, the spine lettered in gilt 'Liber Praecum M. S.', gilt edges, with the binder's ticket 'Bound by C. Hering, 10 St Martin's Street'.


AN EXCEPTIONALLY FINE BOOK OF HOURS, WITH UNUSUAL CONTENTS, BY THE MASTER OF THE GENEVA LATINI, THE LEADING ROUEN ILLUMINATOR OF THE THIRD QUARTER OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY


PROVENANCE:

The calendar points clearly to Rouen, with Martial (3 July) and Romanus of Rouen (23 October) in gold, plus Sever (1 February), Austreberta (10 February), Hugh (9 April), Ouen (5 May), Ursin (12 May, 30 December), Taurin of Evreux (11 August) and Mellon (22 October); in the litany, the martyrs end with Bernardino (canonised in 1450), Ouen, Jerome, Maurus, Mellon, and Romanus, and the virgins include Austreberta. The Office of the Dead is almost identical to Sarum Use (using a variant also found in Huntington Library HM. 1145 and HM. 1166) as a result of the English Occupation of Rouen from 1419 to 1449. Prayers use masculine forms.


An owner probably from the Southern Netherlands or Northern France in the late 15th or 16th century added her impaled coat of arms on the verso of the first inserted leaf: her family arms of argent, a créquier vert, are impaled by those of her husband, sable, three lions argent langued and armed gules; their arms are repeated separately above; below left the arms of his mother, sable, three crescents or; below right the arms of her mother, vert, a fess ermine, a label of three points azure. Her paternal arms, with the addition of a canton, and maternal arms, identified as a branch of the Oignies or Ongnies family, are recorded as appearing together in the church of Carvin, near Lille; the créquier is best known in the canting arms of the Créquy family of Artois, or a créquier gules. Her husband's arms were borne by several families, among them the de Rampemont of Hainault in the 14th century. It is likely that the owner and her husband came from the southern Netherlands and that the book had left Normandy by this date.


On the verso of the second added leaf are the arms of their daughter, also in a lozenge, impaled by those of her husband, argent, a fess sable charged with three mullets or, and surrounded by their parents' arms in a similar arrangement; his maternal arms are possibly blazoned as azure, three cinquefoils argent, a dove argent but the cinquefoils may be intended to be on bezants and the bird's identity is unclear. Her husband's arms were borne by the Jongelinx and by the Assonleville of Artois, although the latter also used mullets pierced. These coats of arms differ in execution from those of her mother and were presumably added when the book was passed on to the next generation.


Bound c.1800 by Charles Hering (d.1815) 'the artistic successor to Roger Payne, the doyen of English bookbinders' (J.G. Marks, 'Bookbinding Practices of the Hering Family', British Library Journal, 6 (1980), p.46).


REBEKAH BLISS (1749-1819), ENGLAND'S EARLIEST FEMALE BIBLIOPHILE (K. Davies, 'Mrs Bliss: A Collector of 1794' in Clark and Worral, eds, Blake in the Nineties, 1999, p.222); bequeathed to her life-long companion Ann Whitaker (d.1825); her sale at Saunders & Hodgson, 26 April 1826, Bibliotheca Splendidissima: A Catalogue of a Select Portion of the Library of Mrs. Bliss, Deceased, Removed from her Residence at Kensington ..., lot 461. Inscribed with a faint pencil inscription, presumably by the purchaser, 'Missal of considerable delicacy & beauty, Cost Mrs Bliss £25(?)' (f.ii).


Quaritch, Catalogue 211 (1902) no 137, with a clipping from the catalogue loosely inserted.


CONTENT:

Calendar ff.1-12v; Office of the Virgin, use of Rouen, ff.13-53v; Hours of St Catherine ff.54-67; Hours of John the Baptist ff.67v-80v; Seven Penitential Psalms ff.81-92; Litany, petitions, and collects, ff.92-97; Hours of the Cross ff.97v-100; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.100v-103; Hours for the days of the week: of the Trinity ff.103-106, of the Dead ff.106v-110, of All Saints ff.110-113, of the Holy Spirit f.113, of the Sacrament ff.113v-116v, of the Cross f.117, of the Virgin (lacking end) ff.117-120v; Hours of the Compassion of the Virgin (lacking beginning) ff.121-141; Litany of the Virgin ff.141-144v; prayers to the Virgin ff.144v-145v; a devotion consisting of the incipits of the Seven Penitential Psalms, each accompanied by a prayer, ff. 145v-150v; Psalm 113, the Athanasian Creed, and a collect, ff.150v-157; Office of the Dead, use of Rouen-Sarum, ff.160-188; Gospel extracts ff.192-197v; prayers Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.197v-204v; the Passion of Christ according to Matthew chapters 26-27 ff.205-220; Long Hours of the Passion ff.220v-243; prayers to St Michael and the Virgin ff.243-255v; Psalter of St Jerome ff.256-274; prayer to All Saints ff.274v-276v.


ILLUMINATION:

The illumination shows all the characteristics of the finest work of the Master of the Geneva Latini, also known as the Master of the Echevinage de Rouen from his work in manuscripts made for the public library assembled by the aldermen of Rouen. His career in the Norman capital began c.1460 and continued into the 1480s.


The present lot can be dated to his early years in the 1460s, from the borders, where grisaille acanthus on gold makes an early and limited appearance on f.13, and the miniatures with their wealth of detail and incident, all controlled by the Master's feeling for pattern and shape. On f.67v, for instance, we see the headless body of the Baptist and the executioner sheathing his sword as well as Salome bringing the head to Herod and Herodias, with a little dog gnawing a bone under their table. The plausible figures and landscapes filled with turreted castles are comparable to those in his miniatures in copies of La Bouquechardière, datable between 1457 and 1461, and the Chronique de Normandie of c.1460, certainly before 1465 (Paris BnF mss fr. 2685 and fr. 2623). By the 1470s the Master's figures had become more elongated and settings and details more summary. (For the Master and these manuscripts, see F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France, 1993, pp.168-73.)


The miniatures for the Office of the Virgin open conventionally, but the Annunciation to the Shepherds, traditionally placed at terce, is omitted, to the confusion of the rubricator who wrote the expected 'ad sextum', f.37v, before the Adoration of the Magi, f.38. At vespers appears the rare scene of Christ among the Doctors in the Temple, f.47, while at compline the Coronation of the Virgin has been replaced by the Death of the Virgin, f.50. The miniature of Christ among the Doctors may owe something to the Master of the Munich Golden Legend, who used the scene in an Hours of Paris use (BL, Add. 18192) and painted a small version in the Sobieski Hours (Windsor Castle, The Royal Library), where the subject also appears in a miniature in the Bedford style. The Master of the Munich Golden Legend spent time in Rouen, where his emphasis on surface pattern and firmly outlined shapes informed the style of the Master of the Geneva Latini. The younger Master repeated this variant on the illustrative cycle for the Office of the Virgin, with the replacement of the Death of the Virgin by the Marriage at Cana, in the book now known as the Hours of Chrétienne de France (Paris, Arsenal ms 562), commissioned c.1470-1475 by the couple who appear in one of its miniatures. A comparison of the two scenes of Christ among the Doctors highlights the richness of detail in the earlier miniature; despite its larger size, the Arsenal miniature is sparser and more economical in painting technique and motif (ill. Avril and Reynaud, p.172). The present lot shows the Master's work before demand encouraged him to simplify his style for speed of execution and ease of imitation.


The refined delicacy of the illumination, where burnished and liquid gold intensify the dominant blues, pinks and greens, ensures that this Hours stands out from the run of the Master's production. Its very full texts and unusual miniatures indicate a special commission from a patron with particular requirements that elicited an exceptional response.


The subjects of the miniatures are:

The Annunciation f.13

The Visitation f.22v

The Nativity f.33

The Adoration of the Magi f.38

The Presentation in the Temple f.41

The Flight into Egypt f.44

Christ among the Doctors f.47

The Virgin on her Deathbed f.50

St Catherine and the destruction of her wheel, the lower margin with a water fountain, f.54

John the Baptist's Head brought to Herod f.67v

David in Penitence f.81

The Crucifixion f.97v

Pentecost f.100v

Burial with the priest asperging the unshrouded corpse f.160

Betrayal and Arrest of Christ f.220v


 Related Features


Masterpieces at Christie’s: An Exhibition of Highlights from the Forthcoming Summer London Sales 2013 [Video]

Western Manuscripts in the Bliss sale, 1826

The importance of the art of the Middle Ages in forming Blake's style has long been recognised; Blake himself saw a connection between Books of Hours and his illustrated pages for he called his works "Illuminated Books". W. B. Yeats referred to the Songs of Innocence and The Book of Thel as "illuminated missals of song" (xvii), and several modern scholars have detected resemblances in design between Blake and his medieval exemplars (Clark, 11; Mellor, 133). Anthony Blunt and Jean Hagstrum, in particular, have described the debt that Blake owes to medieval art. Blunt stresses the importance of Blake's apprenticeship years, exploring & recording the monuments of Westminster Abbey: "It gave him his first contact with medieval art, which was to remain a powerful influence and source of inspiration for the whole of his life" (4). Hagstrum comments on the resemblance between Blake's designs and those of medieval manuscripts, and calls our attention to the illuminated manuscripts in the collection of the bookseller James Edwards, postulating that these would have given William Blake graphic sources of fresh inspiration in the late 1780s. In the pages of, for instance, the Bedford Hours, Hagstrum finds several impressive sources of design, detail and colour in Blake's Illuminated Printing (31-33). To these possibilities must now be added the medieval illuminated manuscripts in the library of Mrs. Bliss as further sources of aesthetic influence on Blake.

I list below the Western manuscripts from Mrs. Bliss's 1826 sale (and additionally some albums of drawings and engravings, and printed books with significant MS additions), altogether representing some 5.4 % of the lots in the sale.

28    Abrégé Historique des Principaux Traits de la Vie de Confucius Célébre Philosophe Chinois, 24 fine engravings by Helman, Paris; Faits memorables des Empereurs de la Chine, with MS. translations in English, 24 fine engravings, Paris 1788, calf extra, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier, in 1 vol.

29    Æsop's Fables, 2 vols in MS with original drawings by Howitt, green morocco, gilt leaves
...

83    Ægidus de Roma du Gouvernement des Princes et des Roys [Manuscript of the XIIIth Century, upon vellum, with illuminations, curiously bound in russia, gilt leaves, by Faulkner]
...

86    Annales du Regne de Louis le Grand, a MS. with 50 beautiful illuminations, (some of which are unfinished,) bound in crimson velvet, gilt leaves
...  

119    Chronology from the Creation to A.D. 1473, a MS. on vellum, with illuminated Genealogies and Capitals, brown calf, joints
...  

128    Conclusiones ex Philosophia Universa dicat et consecrat Victor Meliand, MS. beautifully written on vellum, with fine Paintings and emblematical illuminated borders, and a printed Copy, plain, on vellum, bound in green morocco, gold borders, gilt leaves in 1 vol | Propugnabit in aula Colleg. Clarom. Societ. Jesu die Junii Anno 1647
...

267    Lord's Prayer of an Unterwaldener, invented by J. M. Usteri at Zurich, and etched in aquatinta by M. Wocher, with MS. Verses, half bound, red morocco, elegant | Basil 1803
...

282    Krieg's Ordenung bin ich genannt, &c. a ms. with 60 magnificent illuminations, by Henry Goltzius, and a portrait of him, calf gilt
...

349    Storia Naturale Degli Uccelli trattata con Methodo e Adornata di Figure Intagliate in Rame e Miniate al Naturale (Ital. and Lat.) 5 vols. 599 coloured plates, with MS. description to each in English, green morocco, joints, broad gold borders, gilt leaves, by Staggemeier and Welcher Firenze 1767
...

431    Shaw's (Dr. Geo.) Museum Leverianum, containing select Specimens from the Museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever, Lat. and Eng. 60 beautiful coloured plates, with ms. list, calf, half extra 1792
...

RICHLY ILLUMINATED MISSALS, BOOKS OF | EMBLEMS, &c.


457    Hore Diuine Virginis Marie secundum usum Romanum, cum aliis multis folio sequenti notatis una cum figuris Apocalipsis et Destructio Hierusalem et multis figuris Biblie insertis, 19 large and 11 small illuminations, with capitals and borders, on vellum, calf, neat
458     A Dutch Missal MS. on vellum, with 9 large and 4 small beautiful painted illuminations, capitals and borders, bound in red morocco, gilt
459    Book of Emblems, on vellum, containing 50 exquisitely coloured emblems, representing the Birth, Life and Death of Christ, the Apostles, Saints, &c. &c. vellum, gilt leaves
460    Hore Beate Marie Virginis secundum usum Romanum, totaliter ad longu sine require, on vellum, with 12 illuminated miniatures and capitals, calf extra, gilt leaves | Impresse Parisius per Germanu Hardouyn.

461    Liber Præcum, MS. on vellum, 14 beautiful illuminations, (2 very curious, John's Head in a Charger and the Cutting off the High Priest's Ear,) with borders and capitals, bound in maroon, coloured morocco, joints, gilt edges, by Hering  

462    A Beautiful Dutch Missal MS. on vellum, with 12 large, 6 small, and 10 capital letters and borders, highly coloured, neatly bound in calf  

463    Viti Christi, MS. on vellum, with 37 exquisitely finished miniatures, richly painted borders and capitals, bound in red morocco, gilt edges  

464    A German Missal MS. on vellum, with 3 exquisite paintings, rich gold borders, and multitude of capitals, bound in velvet, gilt edges  

465    Paintings of Saints, &c. 76 most exquisite miniature paintings, representing the Death of Christ, the Apostles, Virgin Mary, Saints, Martyrs, &c. mounted, and splendidly bound in red morocco, gilt leaves, by C. Smith  

466    A Missal MS. on vellum, with 15 beautiful, large, and highly finished miniatures, emblematical borders, and capitals, bound in red morocco, gilt edges  

467    A Missal MS. on vellum, with 7 large and small paintings, most exquisitely finished, bound in velvet, gilt edges  

468    Horæ Romanæ, MS. on vellum, with 12 large and 27 small most exquisitely coloured paintings, borders, and capitals, red morocco, gilt edges  

469    A Missal MS. on vellum, 21 large paintings, highly coloured and finished, with borders and capitals, bound in crimson velvet, gilt edges  

470    Heures Gothique, MS. on vellum, 15 miniatures, Life of Joseph, and Calendar, with painted capitals, red morocco, gilt edges | [The lot sold for £14. 5s. 0d.]

471    Life and Death of Christ, MS. on Vellum, with 18 illuminations, calf extra, gilt leaves  

472    Officinum Beatæ Virginis, MS. on Vellum, 22 large, and 29 small exquisite Miniature Paintings, with a drawing, portrait of Is. Van Deyn inserted, red morocco, gilt edges   

473    Heures Gothique, MS. on Vellum, with 22 beautiful Miniatures, emblematical borders, and capitals, morocco, gilt leaves  

474    Horæ Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, MS. on Vellum, with 40 exquisite Miniature Paintings, borders and capitals, curiously bound and inlaid, gilt edges  

475    Officium Beatæ Mariæ Virginis, on Vellum, 16 large, and 20 small illuminations, with a Drawing, Portrait of S. Arnoldus, morocco, gilt edges |

476    Les sentes Heures a l'usaige de Amies tout au l ōg sans rere onte este faictes pour Simō Vostre, on vellum, with 20 large illuminations, and emblematical borders, curiously bound in morocco  

477    A Missal MS. on Vellum, with 26 beautiful Miniatures, exquisitely finished representing Life, Death, and Sufferings of Christ, Interment, Pentecost, the Evangelists, Jewish Ceremonies, &c. with rich broad emblematical borders throughout, bound in velvet, silk inside, &c. by Benedict  

478    Le Bien Vivre Litt. Goth, on Vellum, 30 fine coloured paintings and capitals, bound in vellum, gilt edges  

479    A Missal MS. on Vellum, with 9 large Paintings, finely executed, richly coloured, and gold borders and capitals, brown calf extra  

480    A Missal MS. on Vellum, with 14 large, and 20 small most exquisitely finished Paintings, with rich borders and capitals, bound in vellum, gilt edges

…

490    Collection de 26 Miniatures tirées D'Anciens Manuscrits, avec les Explications par M. l'Abbé Rive, most richly coloured gold borders, inlaid and bound in blue morocco, joints, gilt leaves (From the Townley Collection.)
...

492    Botanical Drawings, a collection of 44 Botanic drawings by a Lady for Mrs. Bliss, beautifully coloured, half bound, red morocco
...  

497    Dresses of Augsburgh, 36 beautiful Drawings on Vellum, representing the various Dresses, with 24 engravings, and 4 Drawings added at the end, in old red morocco binding
...

507    Bewick's 25 original Drawings of Dogs, neatly mounted, with Portrait of Bewick, red morocco, gold borders, by C. Smith  

508    Original Drawings of Birds, a collection of upwards of 200 beautiful coloured original Drawings, illustrating the Ornithology of the Orientals, mounted and superbly bound, in 2 vols, red morocco, joints, gold borders, gilt leaves, by Lewis
...

514    Coats of Arms of Foreign Princes and Noblemen, 16 Drawings, chiefly on vellum, highly coloured, neatly bound
...

519    Costumes of France, Italy, &c. represented in 42 highly coloured Costumes, on vellum, gold borders, mounted, and bound in morocco
...

521    Nine Beautiful Large Paintings on Vellum, of Ancient Tournaments, &c. exhibiting the Banners, Dresses and Costumes of Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, his Grandson, Charles V. &c. and representing two Battle Pieces, with a Castle Besieged, most exquisitely executed, and highly coloured
...

531    Emblematical Drawings, 25 beautiful emblematical Drawings, on vellum, with descriptive Verses, very curious

532    Eleven magnificent and richly coloured Drawings, by Michael Angelo, Maestri, on India paper, mounted in a blue morocco portfolio, broad gold border, gilt clasps

Mrs. Bliss would have been a striking addition to the list of connoisseurs featured by A. N. L. Munby in Connoisseurs and medieval miniatures 1750-1850 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972). He discusses the changing attitude to Gothic illumination between the reigns of George II and Victoria, and mentions many of the pioneering names (Beckford, Douce, etc.) in the collecting of illuminated manuscripts, but not, of course, Mrs. Bliss. The medieval manuscripts in her Bibliotheca splendidissima include some of quite early date, unfashionable and barely collected by Bliss's contemporaries. Here, as elsewhere, Bliss commands our respect for her recognition of quality in unfamiliar areas of connoisseurship. It's not the easiest task to identify the western manuscripts from the brief entries in the 1826 catalogue. So far, just two of these manuscripts have been identified.

Lot 461


"Liber Præcum, MS. on vellum, 14 beautiful illuminations, (2 very curious, John's Head in a Charger and the Cutting off the High Priest's Ear,) with borders and capitals, bound in maroon, coloured morocco, joints, gilt edges, by Hering"

This can be identified with a Book of Hours, use of Rouen, c. 1460-65, lot 29 in a Christie's sale (Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts, Wednesday 12 June 2013). It had previously been listed in Quaritch, Catalogue 211 (1902), no 137. My thanks to Peter Kidd for bringing this manuscript to my attention. The lot sold for £40,000 to a US trade buyer.


Lot 470


"Heures Gothique, MS. on vellum, 15 miniatures, Life of Joseph, and Calendar, with painted capitals, red morocco, gilt edges"

This can be identified as a Psalter for Franciscan usage acquired by the Bodleian Library in Oxford with the Francis Douce bequest, and now MS. Douce 48. The lot sold for £14. 5s. 0d. to .... from whom it was purchased by Francis Douce. Bequeathed by Douce to the Bodleian Library. It is a manuscript of the late thirteenth century with fine miniatures and borders, and historiated and other initials by a second hand.

As the books in Bibliotheca splendidissima are identified, we begin to get a sense of the range of the Bliss collection and for the first time Blake's work can be shown in a distinctive contemporary context of Gothic illuminated manuscripts. The crucial question remains, did Rebekah Bliss acquire her Blakes directly from the artist, and if so, did this stem from some closer acquaintanceship? Could William Blake have met Mrs. Bliss, and if so, could he have seen her Bibliotheca splendidissima? I should like to suggest the Bliss collection as a possible vector of influence on Blake's art.

Sources
Anthony Blunt, The art of William Blake. Bampton lectures in America; 12 (London: Oxford University Press, 1959).
Kenneth Clark, Blake and Visionary Art (Glasgow, 1973).
Jean H. Hagstrum, William Blake, poet and painter: an introduction to the illuminated verse (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964).
Anne Kostelanetz Mellor, Blake's Human Form Divine (Berkeley, 1974).
A.N.L. Munby, Connoisseurs and medieval miniatures, 1750-1850 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1972).
W.B. Yeats, "Introduction" to The Poems of William Blake. Muses' Library (London, 1905).

Blake books in 1826: Mrs Bliss’s library

"Mrs. Bliss", or at least the sale of her Blake books, was brought to the attention of Blake scholars by Geoffrey Keynes some forty years ago (47), & fuller detail added by G.E. Bentley, Jr. (1977, 654). These writers note little more than the discovery of an auction catalogue

BIBLIOTHECA SPLENDIDISSIMA. | — | A CATALOGUE | OF | A SELECT PORTION | OF | THE LIBRARY OF MRS. BLISS, Deceased, | Removed from her Residence at Kensington; | COMPRISING | An extensive, rare and valuable Collection of Original | Persian, Chinese, Turkish, Hindostan, and other Drawings, | exquisitely finished, representing the Manners, Amuse | ments, Customs, Dresses, Trades, Architecture, Manufactures | and Costumes of the Eastern Nations, richly Illuminated | Missals, expensive Works on Botany and Natural History, | the various Galleries, Books of Processions, National Works | of Art, and an Assemblage of fine Drawings and Prints. | … the whole in the finest condition, many on large paper, with proof, and early | impressions of the plates, the Works on Natural History and Botany most beautifully | coloured, sumptuously and tastefully bound in morocco and russia, by Kalthoeber, | Staggemeier, C. Lewis, Bohn, Welcher, C. Smith, Murton, and other eminent binders, | regardless of experience, and finished in their best style. | ">Which will be Sold by Auction, | BY SAUNDERS & HODGSON, | At their GREAT ROOM, "The POETS GALLERY," 39, FLEET STREET. | On Wednesday, April 26th, 1826, and three following Days, at | Halfpast Twelve o'Clock precisely. | = | To be Viewed, Three Days preceding, and Mornings of Sale, and | Catalogues had, (price 1s. each.).

whereby the Bliss library was auctioned in April 1826 in 814 lots sold over four days. The library contained a large collection of natural history books & more than seventy illuminated manuscripts: missals, psalters, & Books of Hours, as well as a number of works by William Blake. Keynes & Bentley both quote the title of the Bliss sale (wrongly) as "Bibliotheca Splendissima" which may trip off the tongue more easily & looks like better Latin, but isn't. The word used about the sale (& the correct Latin superlative) is "splendidissima".

The five Blake lots in the 1826 sale were

10 Blake's (W.) Gates of Paradise, 16 plates, red morocco, gilt leaves  

11— — Songs of Innocence and Experience, 2 vols, coloured engravings, red morocco, gilt leaves

 ...

41 Blair's (Robt.) Grave, a Poem, illustrated by 12 etchings, by Schiavonetti, from designs by W. Blake, calf extra, gilt leaves 1808

...

370 Young's (Edw.) Night Thoughts, with engravings from Blake's designs, half bound, red morocco 1797

371 Young's (Edw.) Night Thoughts, with engravings from Blake's designs, coloured calf extra, marble leaves 1797.
Does the presence of so many Blake books in Bibliotheca splendidissima suggest any close acquaintanceship? Not in itself, but when we look at individual titles, the inference is hard to avoid.

The "Bliss Blakes", as we might call them, appear to have been collected at dates between 1794 (the proof copy of For Children: the Gates of Paradise), through 1802 (the supposed date of the Bliss Songs), to 1808, or later, for her copy of Blair's Grave (though she is not listed among the subscribers to Blair's Grave). One might conjecture, from her Blake books identified by Bentley, that Mrs. Bliss acquired her Blakes directly from the poet-painter himself.

The Bliss copy of For Children: The Gates of Paradise (lot 10 of the 1826 sale) is identified by Keynes & Bentley with copy A, now with the Rosenwald Collection in the Library of Congress. It appears to be a proof printing before either Blake's or Johnson's imprints were added to the plates. A proof copy, by its nature, is unlikely to have been on commercial sale, & it would have been strange for her to acquire this particular copy from Johnson when the rest of the edition specifically bears his name as publisher. This lends credence to the view that she must have acquired it directly from Blake.

Her copy of the Songs (lot 11, which Bentley identifies as copy P, the Wormsley Library copy) is again distinctive with, unusually, Innocence & Experience separately paginated in Blake's hand, to correspond to its binding in two volumes as though Blake knew beforehand how Mrs. Bliss intended it to be bound. Books from the Bliss library are often characterised by their fine bindings. Even more significantly, copy P is the only copy of the Songs carrying a textual correction in Blake's hand. Line 12 of "The Tyger"

What dread hand & what dread feet

is altered to read

What dread hand formd thy dread feet.

An interesting comparison is with the text as given by B. H. Malkin in A Father's Memoirs of his Child

What dread hand forged thy dread feet.

In both cases, these corrections are attributable to Blake himself. Moreover, if the correction supplied to Malkin is evidence of his & Blake's close personal relationship, should not the correction for Mrs. Bliss's Songs be regarded likewise. I would suggest that Blake makes these careful amendments for close acquaintances that he knew would actually read the Songs—not just want the work for the sake of the illustrations.

There is also the instance of her two copies (lots 370 & 371, plain & coloured) of Young's Night Thoughts with the Blake designs. There are just twenty or so copies of Night Thoughts hand-coloured by William & Catherine Blake. Bentley suggests that the hand-coloured copies of Night Thoughts were sold directly by Blake himself; & that they derive from the copies supplied to Blake by Richard Edwards as part of a customary arrangement between publisher & engraver.

Bentley notes the differences between Blake's engravings for Young's Night Thoughts & those for other illustrated literary works such as Boydell's Shakespeare, Macklin's Bible, & Bowyer's Hume: "Boydell's, Macklin's, and Bowyer's plates were highly finished engravings—or at least they were advertised as such—whereas Blake's were outline engravings only (though they were not advertised as such). … A special advantage of outline rather than highly finished engravings was that they could be more easily and effectively hand coloured, and such colouring may have been part of the original intention". Bentley goes on to suggest

Perhaps the plan was always for Blake to be given copies of the Night Thoughts to colour, as part of his share of the profits of the work. The colouring of these engravings, creating a luminous beauty like that of the watercolours, adds an aesthetic dimension to the Night Thoughts never contemplated by Boydell, Macklin, and Bowyer and makes Blake's coloured Night Thoughts plates rarer, more extraordinary, more valuable, and more beautiful than the works of his more expensive and famous rivals. (1988, 302)

Mrs. Bliss's copy of a coloured copy of Night Thoughts is identified by Bentley as Copy D. "Coloured about 1797; bound in contemporary Brown calf over blue and reddish yellow marbled boards, rebacked with reddish brown leather" It sold for £4. 4s. Thus, even in the example of Bliss's ownership of a relatively extensively produced work like Night Thoughts, circumstances suggest a purchase made directly from Blake. Again this brings Mrs. Bliss close to Blake & clearly of considerable significance to his biography.

But who was this Mrs. Bliss? For the last thirty years, that sale catalogue has been all that is known of her. To begin with, I found myself pursuing some false trails. G.E. Bentley, Jr. once thought it possible that Mrs. Bliss was connected with Philip Bliss, the Oxford antiquary, but only because it was relatively easy to find information about Philip Bliss—& this does not lead us back to Mrs. Bliss or to that 1826 sale.

    He commented in a personal communication (12 April 1994)

I can't now recall how I discovered the Bliss catalogue but suspect that it was in the British Library's catalogue of its own sale catalogues, which used to be for internal use only but which I believe is now published. Nor can I recall what made me think the Bliss catalogue might have Blake in it.
However, Joseph Viscomi had stated confidently

Philip Bliss, an antiquary, bibliographer, and a close friend of Utterson and Dawson Turner was the son of Anne Bliss, whose Songs copy P and For Children copy A were sold in 1826 to Hanrott. (425)

Is it at all possible that the "Mrs. Bliss" whose library was sold in 1826 could be some relative of Philip's, perhaps his wife or his mother?

Bliss, Philip (1787–1857), antiquary & book collector, was the elder son of Philip Bliss (d. 1803), rector of Dodington & Frampton Cotterell, near Chipping Sodbury, Gloucestershire. His mother was Anne Michell (born about 1761) of Conham, formerly in Wiltshire, now a locality within the Bristol urban area. The younger Philip Bliss died at St. Mary Hall, Oxford, on 18 November 1857. His wife Sophia, whom he had married in 1825, survived him; their son & daughter both died in childhood. The sixteen volumes of Philip Bliss's correspondence now in the British Library include letters from his mother, 1825-1848, & some verses written by her on her 64th birthday in 1825. The very wording of the title page of that 1826 catalogue with its reference to "The Library of Mrs. Bliss, Deceased, Removed from her Residence at Kensington" tells us that "Mrs. Bliss" was dead by 1826 & had resided at Kensington. This must rule out both Philip Bliss's wife—newly wed in 1826—& his mother—resident in Taunton after her husband's death in 1803. Anne Bliss won't do. Viscomi & Bentley had been following false trails.

Reconstructing the Bliss library, suggesting works in it that Blake could have seen, will compel a reconsideration of Blake's original context of reception, & bring forward evidence for Mrs. Bliss's friendship with William Blake. Mrs. Bliss's library resembles that of William Beckford in not conforming to the standard book-collecting model of the time—the Dibdinian type of the Bibliotheca Spenceriana. Her library does not include long sets of Aldines or tall Elzevirs; there's no enthusiasm for incunabula, for Wynkyn de Worde or Pynson; there are no classics in editio princeps. Instead there's an insistence on the beauty of individual books—of fine illustrations & handsome bindings. Note, for instance, the works by Thomas Bewick in the 1826 sale

9    Bewick's (T.) History of British Birds, 2 vols, wood cuts    Newcastle 1816

...

507    Bewick's 25 original Drawings of Dogs, neatly mounted, with Portrait of Bewick, red morocco, gold borders, by C. Smith
  
But the finest printed volumes in her library were her natural history books. The title page to Bibliotheca Splendidissima lists some spectacular folios

Buffon Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, 14 vols. large paper; … Storia Naturelle degli Uccelli, 5 vols; … Sepp's Birds, 2 vols; Scheuchzer's Natural History, 15 vols; … Plenck Icones Plantarum, 6 vols; Thornton's Sexual System of Linnaeus; … Roxburgh's Plants of the Coast of Coromandel; … Abbot and Smith's Insects, 2 vols; … Bulliard Historie des Champignons de la France, 7 vols; Vieillot Histoire Naturelle, 3 vols, large paper; … Brookshaw's Pomona; … Buchoz Historie Naturelle, 5 vols, … &c. &c.

In some respects, De Ricci's comments on the Beckford collection could apply to Mrs. Bliss's Bibliotheca Splendidissima: "less a library, in the proper sense of the word, than a cabinet of bibliographical rarities and freaks, each one a gem of its kind" (85).

Sources

G.E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977).
G.E. Bentley, Jr., "Richard Edwards, publisher of Church-and-King pamphlets and of William Blake", Studies in Bibliography, vol. 41 (1988).
British Library. Add MS 34567-34582, Correspondence of Philip Bliss: 1806-1857.
Seymour De Ricci, English collectors of books and manuscripts (1530-1930) and their marks of ownership. Sandars lectures; 1929-1930 (Cambridge: University Press, 1930).
Thomas Frognall Dibdin, Bibliotheca Spenceriana: or, A descriptive catalogue of the books printed in the fifteenth century and of many valuable first editions in the library of George John Earl Spencer. 4 vols. (London: Printed for the author by W. Bulmer, Shakespeare Press, and published by Longman, Hurst, Rees [etc.], 1814-15).
Strickland Gibson and C. J. Hindle, "Philip Bliss (1787-1857), Editor and Bibliographer", Oxford Bibliographical Society. Proceedings & Papers, vol. 3(1931-1933), 173-260, 387-8.
Geoffrey Keynes, "Introductory Volume" to William Blake, The Gates of Paradise (Clairvaux, 1968).
Joseph Viscomi, Blake and the Idea of the Book (Princeton University Press, 1993).

Book-collecting & William Blake

I suppose any discussion of book-collecting these days is expected to start with some mention of the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu. A cornerstone of Bourdieu’s work is that social life can be analysed in terms of two mutually convertible forms of power, the symbolic & the economic. Economic power can only be mobilised through symbolic power, which is itself derived from the possession & accumulation of ‘cultural capital’. One kind of cultural capital takes the form of the taste, manners & style deriving from prolonged exposure to higher, or bourgeois, culture. For Bourdieu class identity is not static but dynamic & relational. As a result the consumption of culture is a function of the changing relationships between classes. He demonstrates, for instance, how cultural capital (the knowledge of high art & a taste for it) can be valued more highly than the conspicuous display of wealth.

According to Bourdieu, taste (which would include the taste for books by William Blake) is not merely a reflection of class distinctions but the instrument by which they are created & maintained. “The contradictions and ambiguities in the relationship of cultivated individuals with their culture are both promoted and sanctioned by the paradox which defines the realization of culture as naturalization” (110). Patterns of cultural taste reflect social identities & help to forge & sustain them. Aspects of this, such as connoisseurship & an aesthetic ethos, only come about through a long investment of time by mentors & educators (parents & teachers).

Central to Bourdieu’s work is the resolution of the dichotomy between the individual & ‘society’. Bourdieu argues that individuals are not pawns moved across an ecological checkerboard by transcendent forces. At least some individuals know a great deal about the working of society & are able to manipulate the rules & resources of society, but at the same time these individuals are not completely free agents capable of doing exactly as they desire; their actions are both enabled & constrained by the rules & resources that they manipulate. The advantage of Bourdieu’s analysis is that it looks at societies as composed of groups with changing interests & desires which they continually project on to culture. If consumption is the result of social behaviour then questions about its origin & meanings cannot be understood apart from their social contexts. For this reason the writings of ethnographers like Bourdieu, which look at cultural meanings & reception in relation to changing needs of social groups, might be expected to provide useful tools for exploring the history of collecting.

In the past thirty years or so, the history of art collecting has attracted considerable scholarly attention & is now a subject of increasing interest & study, bringing the methods of historical research to the study of the shifts & paradigms of collecting taste. Centuries of familiarity with art collecting meant that this phenomenon had been taken for granted. It was not seen as what it is—“a highly idiosyncratic, exceedingly complex, and in some degree, quite irrational cultural behavioural development” (Alsop, 1). A Journal of the History of Collections began publication in 1989—the scope of the journal embracing the contents of collections, the processes which initiate their formation & the circumstances of the collectors themselves.

Krzysztof Pomian (who to the best of my recollection doesn’t mention Bourdieu) has related changes in fashions for collecting to wider changes in social attitudes in the second half of the eighteenth century. He shows, for example, how the collecting of coins & medals as a demonstration of a collector’s ‘erudition’ gave way to the collecting of shells as an expression of the collector’s interest in ‘philosophy’. (Mrs. Bliss had a notable shell collection.) The importance of collecting is not only that it is a means of reinforcing status discriminations, but that it is a cultural practice by which the collector learns what his or her culture’s ethos & his or her private sensibility, even his or her sense of self, look like.

The related field of book-collecting (overlapping with the collecting of works of art) has also received recent scholarly attention. The serious study of private libraries, & of the lessons that can be learned from book ownership, can elucidate the interests & tastes of the owner & the texts that may have influenced his or her thinking. If they annotated their books, their comments may be valuable as evidence of contemporary reaction to the ideas their books contain. These observations lead on to yield information about the history of the book trade, & about the importance of books in society.

One might take from anthropology two opposing models that give an historical account of cultural patterns. Reticulate models stress the importance of continuing processes of interaction between contemporary communities. Phylogenetic models stress commonality of descent, & imply dispersal from common origins. Can one narrow this into a model for book-collecting? The study of collecting has mostly been “phylogenetic” concerned with questions of provenance & the transfer of actual objects by gift or purchase or inheritance. The study of provenance allows us to assess the size & contents of particular libraries, & to compare them with other collections of their time. It allows us to build up wider pictures of the patterns of book ownership through the centuries, & to see how those patterns change in terms of size, composition, language, subject, or origin. But if book-collectors form a network of friends & acquaintances then perhaps a “reticulate” model should apply.

William Blake & his contemporary collectors

In his introduction to William Blake: The Urizen Books, David Worrall comments that “it does a disservice to the ‘myriads of Eternity’, the lost voices of his contemporary radical culture, if we imagine that Blake’s books are the semi-private indulgences of a gifted eccentric. Lots of other people, then as now, were on Blake’s political and religious wavelength but none other had his genius for the wonderful combination of text and design”. Blake himself was print-collector & connoisseur. Blake’s poetry, even at its most obscure & enigmatic, isn’t simply seceding from the public realm of a degenerate culture into an area of pseudo privacy. The contemporary ownership of Blake’s work tells us about the contexts in which he wrote, painted, printed & published, & enables us to reconstruct the audience he found for his work. I’m concerned then with those contemporaries of Blake who acquired examples of his work as poet & artist; those persons who were sufficiently “on his wavelength” to devote part of their income to acquiring what were, even in Blake’s lifetime, quite expensive books & paintings.

What interests me is why certain men & women chose to become customers for Blake’s books, & in what terms they viewed their investment.  Issues for study include: the backgrounds of collectors; their point of contact with Blake; their influence on other contemporary readers or collectors; the reasons for their purchases; the dispersal of Blake’s work after the decease of the initial collector; the place of Blake’s works in these collections; & the aesthetic culture implied by ownership. Every person who bought Blake’s work in his lifetime is of significance to Blake scholarship. Each collector provides Blake with a new critical context for his work & suggests new possibilities for Blake studies. What we need then is a sort of cognitive archaeology, reading Blake in his time, & reconstructing an intellectual community of Blake collectors.

From Bourdieu we can derive distrust of any theory which remains exclusively concerned with textuality, however broadly conceived, & which evades the question of the socio-historical conditions of writing or reading. MacDonald notes that this has some important methodological consequences for book history. “The first task of any cultural analysis is not to interpret the meaning of a text but to reconstruct its predicament” (115). Readers bring to a text their knowledge, assumptions, cultural background, experience, & insight.  Different ways of reading Blake can stem from different reading contexts. Reading text means reading culture, & vice versa.

Ever since the publication of Gilchrist’s Life with its subtitle “pictor ignotus”, there has been a widely held assumption that Blake lacked any significant contemporary audience. In fact, it was larger in numbers than is generally recognised, & more diverse. Bentley’s Blake Books by my rough calculation lists some sixty-one contemporary owners of Blake’s Illuminated Books & of plates from the books: Elizabeth Aders fl. 1826-43, Robert Balmanno 1780-1860, William Beckford 1760-1844, Mr. Bird fl. 1828-31, Mrs. Bliss fl. 1826, Hannah Boddington fl. 1835, Samuel Boddington 1766-1843, Thomas Boddington 1804-1871, James Boswell 1778-1822, Marquess of Bute fl. 1804, Thomas Butts 1757-1822, Edward Calvert 1799-1883, Sir Francis Chantrey 1781-1841, Arthur Champernowne 1767-1819, R. H. Clarke, George Cumberland 1754-1848, E. Daniell 1804-1843, Maria Denman, T. F. Dibdin 1776-1847, Charles W. Dilke 1789-1864, Baron Dimsdale 1712-1800, Joseph Dinham fl. 1831, Isaac d’Israeli 1766-1848, Francis Douce 1757-1834, George Dyer 1755-1841, Thomas Edwards 1762-1834, William Odell Elwell, Edward Fitzgerald 1809-1883, John Flaxman 1756-1826, John Henry Fuseli 1741-1825, John Giles, P. A. Hanrott fl. 1826, Ozias Humphry 1782-1810, Elizabeth Iremonger fl. 1786-1813, Bishop John Jebb 1775-1833, Thomas Johnes 1748-1816, Sir Thomas Lawrence 1769-1830, John Linnell 1792-1882, Dr. William Long 1747-1818, B. H. Malkin 1769-1842, Richard Monckton Milnes 1809-1885, Harriet Jane Moore 1801-1884, William Young Ottley 1771-1836, Thomas Phillips 1770-1845, George Richmond 1809-1896, Henry Rogers, Samuel Rogers 1763-1855, Henry Crabb Robinson 1775-1867, Miss C. L. Shipley, Thomas Stothard 1755-1834, Frederick Tatham 1804-1878, C. H. Tatham 1772-1842, Rev. Joseph Thomas d. 1811, C. A. Tulk 1786-1849, William Upcott 1779-1845, John Varley 1778-1842, James Vine d. 1837, T. G. Wainewright 1794-1852, Judge Charles Warren 1769-1823, James Weale, J. J. Garth Wilkinson 1812-99.

Our current knowledge about early collectors of William Blake’s work remains patchy or uneven in quality, though more recent scholarship has brought a new awareness of the extent of the problems raised by those first owners & of the implications for modern scholarship as the primacy of enumerative bibliography is replaced by the broader concept of the history of Blake’s books. Stemmler (for Douce & Cumberland), & Viscomi (with regard to Romney & d’Israeli) have attempted to assess the backgrounds of collectors; their point of contact with Blake; their influence on other contemporary readers or collectors; the reasons for their purchases; the dispersal of Blake’s books after the deaths of the first collectors; or the aesthetic culture implied by ownership. These collectors have largely been treated as isolated figures; each has a collection unique to them & this cultural activity (collecting of work by William Blake) is not seen to interact significantly with other collectors in the same field, or even with the individual’s own other collecting interests. So far, no attempt (other than Stemmler’s tentative linking of Douce & Cumberland) has been made to view them as a network or set of networks—linked by friendship, shared religious sympathies or geographical proximity.

If the book-collector of popular imagining is a solitary figure in his lonely study, “retreating to the library” after the fashion of Robert Burton, the reality can be very different. Blake’s collectors have largely been treated as isolated figures, but from their letters & other personal papers one can reconstruct their social circle & discover links to other Blake collectors & to friends & acquaintances of William Blake himself. For example, Samuel Boddington’s diary not only makes reference to his nephew Thomas Fremaux Boddington (who owned a Songs) & to Thomas’s wife Hannah (who purchased a Job) but also records meetings with the collector Samuel Rogers & with Blake’s friend & patron John Linnell. There were connections of kinship between Mrs Bliss & William Fuller Maitland; & of teacher & pupil between Benjamin Heath Malkin & Edward Fitzgerald, both of whom owned copies of the Songs. (Fitzgerald, the translator of Omar Khayyam, was at Bury school 1819-26, during Dr. Malkin’s headmastership.) It is also important to see to what extent Blake’s collectors were professionally linked through the book trade (e.g. Thomas Edwards), or were fellow artists (e.g. John Flaxman), or were radical in politics (e.g. Francis Douce). The social face of book-collecting is most evident in the circle of Richard Twiss, where a group of book-collecting friends provide a context in which knowledge of Blake’s work could be disseminated—a group who dined together, lent each other books, corresponded with other collectors, & shared information on what was of interest & where to obtain it. In this network of friends, of which traces survive in letters, anecdotes & casual versifying, we can find evidence for how Blake’s work was received & how some works at least were distributed. I hope to return to Twiss the book-collector later in this blog.

Bourdieu's work can be criticised for going too far in emphasising class distinctions to the exclusion of other explanations. His emphasis on the economic & class basis of collecting can be enriched, & perhaps challenged by fuller consideration of gender, sexuality & ethnicity. I’ve been concerned over the years with a whole category of lost libraries—private libraries assembled by women book-collectors—lost because dispersed & attributed in later accounts to husbands, or male heirs. There is good empirical evidence for a hitherto unrecognised feminine audience for Blake’s work—Elizabeth Aders, Mrs. Bliss, Hannah Boddington, Maria Denman, Nancy Flaxman, Elizabeth Iremonger, Harriet Jane Moore, Miss C. L. Shipley, & the women subscribers to Blair’s The Grave.

As a bibliophile contemporary of Wollstonecraft & Austen, Mrs. Bliss’s collection of sumptuous printed books & illuminated manuscripts provides an extraordinary example of a dissenting, woman-centred, female connoisseur. She poses interesting questions as to the female role in purchasing & reading Blake’s works, about how & why such work entered the private space of women’s reading. Feminist assessment of Blake has grown increasingly sceptical over the past two decades, but attention to Mrs. Bliss & her milieu obliges us to reassess the particular appeal of his works to a contemporary female audience. Some long-held assumptions associating Blake exclusively with a male radical intelligentsia are implicitly undermined & arguably wholly refuted. In the collection of Mrs. Bliss (her Bibliotheca Splendidissima that gives its title to this blog) there are implications for Blake’s work both in the rediscovery of medieval art in the Romantic period, and the influence of Oriental imagery on his art. Other early women collectors such as Elizabeth Aders & Elizabeth Iremonger themselves merit fuller investigation.

Sources
Joseph Alsop, The Rare Art Traditions (London, 1982).
Peter Bellwood, “Phylogeny vs Reticulation in Prehistory”, Antiquity, vol. 70 (1996), 881-90.
G.E. Bentley, Jr., Blake Books (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977).
Pierre Bourdieu & Alain Darbel with Dominique Schnapper, The Love of Art: European Art Museums and their Public; translated by Caroline Beattie & Nick Merriman (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991), 110. Translation of L’Amour de l’art: les musées d’art europeëns et leur publique (Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1969).
Peter D. MacDonald, “Implicit Structures and Explicit Interactions: Pierre Bourdieu and the History of the Book”, The Library, 6th series, vol. xix, no. 2 (June 1997), 105-121.
Krzysztof Pomian, Collectors and Curiosities (Cambridge, 1990).
Joan K. Stemmler, “Undisturbed Above Once in a Lustre”, Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, vol. 26 (Summer 1992), 9-19.
Joseph Viscomi, “The Myth of Commissioned Illuminated Books: George Romney, Isaac D’Israeli, and ONE HUNDRED & SIXTY Designs … of Blake’s ”, Blake/An Illustrated Quarterly, vol. 23 (Autumn 1989), 48-74.
David Worrall, “Introduction” to William Blake: the Urizen Books. Blake’s Illuminated Books, Vol. 6 (London, 1995).