S. PROUT's own copy unrecorded de luxe issue 1844

Offered for sale by Adam Langlands of 'Shadowrock Rare Books' - for more information please contact him via email at [email protected]

Samuel PROUT (1783-1852, artist). Sketches at Home and Abroad. Hints on the Acquirement of Freedom of Execution and Breadth of Effect in Landscape Painting. To which are added, Simple Instructions, on the proper uses and application of Colour. By Samuel Prout ... Painter in Water Colour in Ordinary to Her Majesty. London: M. A. Nattali, 1844. Imperial 4to. Pp. [1-]16. Lithographed additional title (with mounted lithographic vignette on India paper), lithographed plate list at end with mounted lithographic decoration, 48 lithographed plates, each on india paper mounted, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with an original pencil sketch by Samuel Prout of Weymouth in Dorset, England, and a pencil and wash sketch of Hurstmonceaux Castle in Sussex by his son, Samuel Gillespie Prout. (Contents spotted and with old dampstaining). Original dark green half morocco over marbled paper-covered boards, spine gilt in six compartments with raised bands, marbled endpapers, gilt edges (some light scuffing to extremities). Provenance: Samuel Prout (presentation inscription from his publisher 'To / Saml. Prout Esq / From his obliged Friend / M.A. Nattali ', by descent); Samuel Gillespie Prout (signed in pencil, willed to his house-keeeper: Clara Alberta Allen); the estate of Mrs Allen. A unique copy: the Prout family copy of this beautiful but practical artist's guide: not really a view book although the examples chosen come from a large geographical area. This copy, from the (?unrecorded) de luxe issue, was presented by the publisher, Nattali, to the author Samuel Prout (1783-1852). The book then passed by descent to his son, the artist Samuel Gillespie Prout (1822-1911, left  to his housekeeper, Clara Alberta Allen who died in the 1940s); by descent through her family, sold at auction by the Estate of Clara Alberta Allen.The two inserted original sketches: one by Samuel and a second by Samuel Gillespie, are both from the same source as the book. Usually published with the plates on wove paper, the present example demonstrates that there is clearly a deluxe issue with all the plates on India Paper mounted. Lowndes IV, p.1983 (no mention of the present deluxe issue).