STALKER, John.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

A Treatise of Japaning and Varnishing, First edition of one of the earliest and certainly most attractive of the English pattern books introducing the process of japanning ("an art much admir'd by us, and all those who hold any commerce with the Inhabitants of Japan"), alongside accounts of techniques for decorating furniture and small objects, such as varnishing, burnishing, and gilding. More than technical details, the book provides influential images of an imagined orient, marking the growth of the contemporary taste for what became known as chinoiserie (Europeans showed little discrimination in distinguishing the sources of imported Asian styles). The book contains more than a hundred distinct patterns for japan-work, as well as more general designs of birds, animals, flowers, and landscapes. The book was published in at least four variants, with no known priority between them, listing either Stalker or George Parker as the author, offering it for sale in London and Oxford, as well as, contemporary advertisements make clear, Edinburgh and Dublin.

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