JONES, Owen (design).

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Book of Common Prayer, First Jones edition, in an attractive Arts and Crafts binding. This edition was "one of the most important examples of the commercial decoration" of a titan of Victorian book design (McLean, p. 66). Owen Jones (1809-1874) was a leading figure in the Gothic Revival of illumination. In 1841, in collaboration with John Murray, he produced Ancient Spanish Ballads, the first of his illuminated books: gift books adorned with vivid medievalist manuscript decoration, often using devotional texts. The success of Ancient Spanish Ballads led to Jones and the publishers collaborating again on his Book of Common Prayer. "The book was well printed by Vizetelly Brothers, and must have been a considerable undertaking, since it consists of over five hundred pages, all printed in two or three colours" (p. 89).The copy bears the bookplate of Henrietta Sophia Butler (1859-1935), the daughter of the renowned art collector Charles Butler (1821-1910). It is initialled by its engraver, Robert Kirkman Hodgson, and dated 1900.

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