Accession number
PML 60258
Creator
Flaxman, John, 1755-1826.
Published
[1793].
Credit line
Purchased as the gift of Mrs. Landon K. Thorne, 1969.
Notes
Designed and engraved in Rome.
The Iliad engravings match the second set of plates engraved by Piroli in Rome and shipped to London to be published by Flaxman's aunt Jane Matthews in 1795 (Bentley's Iliad 2).
The Odyssey engravings appear to combine the few early surviving plates printed in Rome in 1793 (Bentley's Odyssey 1) and plates from the second edition, also printed in 1793.
The Iliad engravings match the second set of plates engraved by Piroli in Rome and shipped to London to be published by Flaxman's aunt Jane Matthews in 1795 (Bentley's Iliad 2).
The Odyssey engravings appear to combine the few early surviving plates printed in Rome in 1793 (Bentley's Odyssey 1) and plates from the second edition, also printed in 1793.
Description
[62] leaves of plates : all ill. (engravings) ; 32 x 48 cm
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscription on first blank leaf: Proof copy with autograph inscriptions by Flaxman -- bought at Mrs. Flaxman's sale 10th April 1862 - [signed] P. & D. Colnaghi Scott & Co.
Provenance
John Flaxman's copy; his sister-in-law's sale, Christie's 10 Apr. 1862; sold by P. & D. Colnaghi Scott [?]; library of Edward Cheney (his bookplate), Sotheby 25 June 1886, lot 745; acquired by Mr. Maitland, according to inscription; later sold at Sotheby's 3 Nov. 1969, lot 159.
Summary
Proofs before letters of engraved illustrations presumably for the 1795 edition of the Iliad and the 1793 edition of the Odyssey, with manuscript captions, numbering, occasional references to Pope's translations of Homer, and some lines of Pope's verse added in ink to engraved plates by John Flaxman.
Binding
Half red morocco, tooled and lettered in gold, all edges gilt.
Classification
Catalog link
Department