Bickham, George

London (printed for and sold by H. Overton). 1743. Fol. (36 x 24 cm). Engraved frontispiece portrait, larger brown stain, engraved title (foxed), engraved plates numbered 1-212. Plate 142 missbound, comes after plate 144. The plates are also decorated with about 70 nice vignettes. Contemporary brown half leather, somewhat rubbed and worn, gilt spine, endpapers laid down on later paper, front inner hinge weak. Plates 188-194 foxing to outer margins. Textblock edges a bit browned, some marginal soiling, foxing and stains, else internally clean and in attractive condition. Provenance the Swedish calligrapher and graphic designer Lars Laurentii, with his exlibris and signature.Complete copy of this monumental work, a compendium of all scripts in current use in England and the most celebrated of English writing-books.The original edition was published in 52 instalments between 1733-1741. This is the second edition in volume form.Bickham's publication came out in a time when English hand-writing was universally recognized. The round hand, ideal for commercial use, spread throughout Europe as England's expanding trade brought her into communication with other nations. Although the period of publication covered only eight years, this calligraphic anthology gives a fairly complete record of the hands in use during the earlier part of the eighteenth century.Of the 212 plates 18 seems to be engraved by Bickham from his own design, but he employed 25 leading writing-masters to compose the bulk of the work. The hands displayed are for a variety of uses and the whole book is one of the most important English writing books, establishing Bickham as one of the leading calligraphic engravers and calligraphers in an age of writing masters.This book contains more than 210 full-page plates, each crammed full of beautiful and interesting material. To list only part of its contents: Over 125 pictorial scenes, clear copperplates of drinking scenes, family scenes, commerce, rustic festivities, duels, more. Over 200 script pictures, male and female heads, busts, cherubs, griffins, birds, fish, etc. 19 complete alphabets: round hand, round text, Old English, florid, foliated, and others. 275 lettered specimens, overlaid with fine flourishes, swirls, spirals, featherings, volutes, etc. Over 100 panels, frames, cartouches, and other effects Over 950 lettered specimens, with thousands of words. Calligraphers find Bickham the best source for English round-handwriting; commercial artists, advertising directors, and designers all find Bickham first-rate as a source for immediately usable pictures and script that suggests antiquity, quality, and reliability. Craftspeople have found it rich in unusual ideas and motifs, while libraries and art historians find it a wonderful collection of 18th-century pictures illustrating art-life.(Heal pp. 171-72, Bonacini 208, Baltimore 116, Ekström pp. 78-81).