RUSKIN, John.

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The Stones of Venice. Signed limited edition, one of 1,500 sets signed by the author at the end of the new preface. This key text of the aesthetic movement was first published from 1851 to 1853. Its "obsession with the function and aesthetics of architecture, over and beyond its history and practice, again proved a revolutionary success" (PMM).The work's importance lies "in its celebration of the Byzantine and the Gothic, which had an immediate effect on Victorian architects, who began to introduce Romanesque forms and Venetian and Veronese colour and sculptural features into their designs" (ODNB). The most famous chapter, "The Nature of Gothic", was separately reprinted twice in the author's lifetime, firstly for the inaguaration of the London Working Men's College in 1854, and secondly by William Morris in 1892. In this chapter, "Ruskin argued that under conditions of industrialization and the division of labour, social disharmony and industrial unrest were bound to occur, because the previously expressive craftsman - Ruskin's ideal working man - had been reduced to the condition of a machine" (ODNB).This copy belonged to the author, politician, and antiquarian Sir Herbert Maxwell (1845-1937). Maxwell wrote extensively on Scottish history and was the chairman of the National Library of Scotland from 1925 to 1932. His bookplate is on the front pastedown of each volume and a library ticket from his Georgian mansion, Monrieth House, is loosely inserted, with corresponding penc

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