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LEVER, CHRISTOPHER: : Goldsmiths and Silversmiths of England

LONDON.HUTCHINSON & CO (Publishers) LTD.,1975.

ISBN 0091212200.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.NFINE/NFINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated, silvered background with goldsmiths+ silversmiths contemporary monochrome portrait cartouche'd illustrated dw/dj panels,with white lettering to front and spine/backstrip; with negligible shelf- wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Internally to dw/dj and not noticeably visible externally; top edges and lower part of front panel with water-staining which also extends to foot of spine/backstrip and the rear,lower edge too - but in diminishing a degree.The noted water-staining has only affected the concomitant area of front board and it's lower edges too.Described hard but honestly and fairly and nowhere as bad as it reads or would sound.Top edges lightly and sporadically foxed/spotted from light dust-soiling,fore-edges brighter and cleaner and only minisculely affected with foxing; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - virtually pristine - no foxing/spotting and no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation. Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original plain cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain pale grey endpapers.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,14- 256pp [paginated] includes acknowledgements,an introduction,12 chapters,32pp b/w plates in 4 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp24/5,pp88/9,pp152/3 and pp216/7 respectively,nearly fifty b/w reproductions of makers' hallmarks interspersed throughout the text and the book,a bibliography,an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title,b/w photographic frntis,title page,a dedication,contents list/table,illustrations list/table,and a foreword by Arthur Grimwade,F.S.A. Paul de Lamerie . . . Hester Bateman . . . Matthew Boulton . . . Paul Storr - familiar as they and their work may seem to be,the general public has until now known little of the personalities behind the names.Ever-growing enthusiasm and a constantly increasingly appreciation of the masterpieces of the English goldsmiths' craft are everywhere reflected in salerooms,museums and private collections; yet curiosity about the people who fashioned these works has largely remained unsatisfied.Specialised monographs and biographies of individual goldsmiths (the guild title for workers in both gold and silver) are available; yet,as Arthur Grimwade points out in his perceptive foreword,Christopher Lever's book is the first to bring together in one volume the careers and achievements of the important goldsmiths of the whoe period from the Huguenot influx onward - in London and also in the chief provincial centres. The ambivalance of their position as both artists and craftsmen has long denied goldsmiths the attention regularly lavished on workers in paint or stone, though their impact on taste and style was surely as great.The traditions of the guild seem almost to have encouraged this anonymity by restricting the maker's signature to a cryptic mark; and yet it is the very individuality of a piece that collectors prize above all today.It is for this reason that much of the fascination of Mr Lever's book lies in his detailed accounts of the lives of the craftsmen as well as of the most important works that bear their marks. The text is enhanced by thirty-two ages of plates,including many portraits of the goldsmiths themselves,and by nearly fifty reproductions of the marks by which they are identified. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

LEVER, Christopher : Goldsmiths and Silversmiths of England

Hutchinson, 1975

First Edition. A fine unread copy in a fine d.w., slight shelfwear lower front margin.

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