Scottish Chippendale rococo bindings

Bible, English. 1787

[SCOTTISH CHIPPENDALE BINDINGS 1794]. The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments: Newly Translated out of the Original Tongues; and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised, by His Majesty's Special Command. Appointed to be read in Churches. - WITH: The Psalms of David in Metre... Allowed by the Kirk of Scotland

Edinburgh: Assigns of Alexander Kincaid, 1787. Two works in two volumes. Large Octavo (211 x 130 mm). Collation: BIBLE: A-4A8, complete. PSALMS: A-E8, complete. Contemporary Scottish bindings: red morocco, elaborately tooled in gilt to a "Chippendale" motif, smooth spines gilt; marbled endpapers, a.e.g. (in vol. 1 the front joint expertly repaired and tape removed from inner hinges). Preserved in a protective cloth case. Very good. Item #271

INNOVATIVE AND HIGHLY UNUSUAL SCOTTISH CHIPPENDALE ROCOCO BINDINGS, COMBINING CHINOISERIE AND NEOCLASSICAL ELEMENTS, EXHIBITING THE INDEPENDENCE OF SCOTTISH WORK AT THIS TIME.

The present example is a striking hybrid of late 18th-century decorative art in Britain, the likes of which we have not encountered hitherto. Here "oriental" birds and peacocks are juxtaposed with patriotic depictions of Britannia (uncharacteristically surmounted by a fleur-de-lis), bold anchors, columns, sunbursts, dripping garlands, flowers, sheaves of wheat, and urns. Presented in the Chippendale style, the present binder, who is as yet unnamed, introduces rococo ornaments while enclosing all of the above with an unmistakably neoclassical greek-key roll.

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ROCOCO BINDINGS OF THIS QUALITY ARE RARE, PARTICULARLY THOSE EXECUTED IN SCOTLAND.

Rococo book arts in Scotland have been almost completely unexplored on account of the paltry number of examples with which we are able to study. Robert Adam's designs for the bindings of his "Ruins of Spalatro" (1764) is a bold statement of the neoclassical for he was justly celebrated. But we now know that Adam was not exclusively "Grecian." David Pullins' heroic archival research in Sir John Soane's Museum has shown that Adam received three previously unexamined commissions for a seemingly antithetical kind of decoration, which he calls "neoclassical chinoiserie," specifically Adam's drawings for an unrealized chinoiserie looking-glass, dated 1769, for Edwin Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood. (SOURCE: "Robert Adam's Neoclassical Chinoiserie" in: West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, online). We would argue that the present bindings exhibit such a blend of Chippendale, chinoiserie, rococo, and neoclassical. For a general note on English "Chippendale" and "Chinoiserie" bindings, see G.D. Hobson "English Bindings of J.R. Abbey" p. 126.

¶ Our bindings may be linked to four others -- all greatly inferior -- which share the large "eagle" tool in common (as noted by Mirjam Foot):

1. British Library, Davis 253 (Bible, Edinburgh, 1790 = Henry Davis Gift, Vol. II, No. 283);
2. National Library of Scotland, F.4.e.9 (Bible + Psalms, Edinburgh: Assigns of A. Kincaid, 1789);
3. Washington Cathedral Library (Bible, Edinburgh, 1789);
4. Glasgow University Library, DXC 48-48A (Bible, Cambridge, 1792 + Psalms, Glasgow, 1793).

PROVENANCE: red morocco bookplate of "MARION MALLOCH 1794" inside both volumes -- sold by us to a private collector in 2007 -- bought back by us in 2023.

¶ REFERENCES: ESTC 91765, Darlow & Moule 1319; ESTC 91766.

Price: $7,250.00