RICHARDSON, William, & Edward Churton.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire. First and only edition; a very handsome copy, bound in York, of one of the most resplendent English colour plate topographical books. Richardson's beautifully composed picturesque scenes, superbly lithographed by George Hawkins, were printed by the firm of Day & Haghe - responsible for the celebrated David Roberts folios - which "raised lithography to perhaps the highest point it ever attained" (Abbey).Boyne remarks that "Richardson's really fine plates will always make this a desirable book" and notes that it was issued originally in nine parts, available at nine guineas plain, or eighteen guineas coloured; this copy has a mixture of both, which is often the case. All the major abbeys of Yorkshire are portrayed, among them Whitby, Kirkstall, Rievaulx, Byland, and Fountains, as well as a number of priories and smaller religious houses. Richardson's finely rendered, placid scenes, populated attractively by local people and admiring visitors, illustrate the exceptional richness of Yorkshire's survivals from Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. In fact, Yorkshire did not "go quietly" during that period of state-sanctioned vandalism: "The dissolution violently destroyed centuries-old communities and wiped out ancient landmarks … [But] in the midst of the dissolution a sudden storm of opposition took the government by surprise; for a time it looked likely to threaten not only Cromwell's policy but even perhaps Henry's throne. This was the n

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.