Addresses to the Students of the Royal Academy by Lawrence Thomas Sir. Edited by Robert Balmanno - 1826

Offering: An extraordinary specimen, compiled as a memorial to Sir Thomas Lawrence over a period of 25 years by Robert Balmanno, editor for the Addresses. Rarity: excessively rare. A worldwide institution search finds one holding, for two of the three addresses at the British Library. This example, with its numerous enrichments is complete and unique. Illustrated: Nineteen prints in superb impressions with wide margins, eleven in proof states. The addresses were issued without illustration. Robert Balmanno has added nineteen prints acquired over a period of decades, bound in to the commissioned fine binding. Three are historical scenes, sixteen are portraits, chiefly after Lawrence, including two portraits of Sir Thomas Lawrence inserted as frontispieces, with "Sir Thomas Lawrence Aged 35" (after a self-portrait drawing) in the very rare proof state before letters. Other portrait print rarities include: a lithograph of Fanny Kemble after a Lawrence drawing, but not the widely printed lithograph, instead, an elegant and rare lithograph design in its proof state tinted pink; Sarah Siddons, after an early Lawrence portrait, printed on India paper in a proof state; Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (subject of Lawrence's handwritten draft poem), engraved by Robert Cooper, in the very rare printer's proof state, and the greatest rarity, the Address II title frontispiece of Mary Ann Flaxman as a young woman, believed after a Lawrence chalk drawing, ca. 1781-1786, medallion portrait, widest margins, proof state before letters. The artist, Mary Ann Flaxman [1768-1833] was the adopted daughter of John Flaxman, the sculptor, and teacher at the Royal Academy. Lawrence's Address III contains a eulogy for John Flaxman who died 4 days before the Address' issue; "estimable being whose death we are deploring". [p. 8, line 8]) Mary Ann Flaxman's copy of the third address with title page presentation by Sir Thomas Lawrence was obtained by Robert Balmanno after her death and the presentation title page bound in to this memorial example. The excessively rare print is not catalogued in the holdings of the British Museum, British Library, National Portrait Gallery, Victoria & Albert Museum, Library of Congress, Yale University, Harvard University, the Huntington Library, etc. Seven Handwritten Additions from Sir Thomas Lawrence: Signed Letter: for Robert Balmanno on editing and printing of Address I, on a 183 x 222 mm leaf, folded for mailing with delivery note and Robert Balmanno's address on side 4, 40-lines, heading and content documents Lawrence was writing over a period of two days while attending George IV at the Royal Lodge, Windsor Great Park. It begins, "the proof is not arrived but still there will doubtless be time for all being finished." Two Unsigned Presentations: for the addresses with separate title pages. For Robert Balmanno on the separate title page of Address I; "To Robert Balmanno Esq, With the Writer's Esteem and Regards." For Mary Ann Flaxman on the separate title page of Address III; "To Miss Flaxman, With the Writer's Respects." Three Notes: regarding editing addresses, each bound in a different format. On a mounted separate sheet, 9 lines of corrections for p. 6 of Address I. On a large folded slip, 4 lines of corrections for p. 3 of Address III, printer examples in the uncorrected state and final state follow. Done directly on a printed proof, p. 13 of Address III, corrections later canceled, with cross-outs to parts of 2 lines and 9 short lines in margin, a clean example of the identical page, the final state of page 13, follows after. Poem: Untitled homage to Cardinal Wolsey [ca. 1475-1530], (founder of Cardinal College, Oxford, now Christ Church), 12 lines of a draft with many corrections, mounted on a separate sheet, facing a stipple engraved portrait of Wolsey after William Hilton in its very rare proof state. From Robert Balmanno: Signed Testament: London, 1828, 19 lines documenting the handwritten Lawrence materials including the letter and verse and the 6 engravings selected by Robert Balmanno, up to then. Annotations: 12 helpful and terse foot, or margin notes on persons cited in the texts. Corrections: underlined in pencil. Eulogy: for Sir Thomas Lawrence. Printer's Proofs: Added for two pages. Clippings (finely mounted): Death Notice for Sir Thomas Lawrence, by Robert Balmanno in the "Literary Gazette", written shortly after his passing with valuable information on his last days and sudden demise. An insider's account of how Lawrence regained the patronage of the Prince Regent (later, King George IV). A biographical sketch of J.S. Copley, illustrated with the Nicolson print after Copley, "Death of Chatham", in a rare proof impression, after letters. Copley's famous historical painting, "Death of Chatham" is cited by Lawrence in the preface for Address I. Commissioned Fine Binding: by Robert Balmanno, ca. 1848, from Pawson & Nicholson, Philadelphia in full Turkish morocco, the sienna sides decorated with an Ottoman influenced panel design decorated with refined fleur-de-lis, minaret, and lozenge tools in gold leaf and in blind; spine in six compartments with five raised bands, title in gilt letters (in compartment 2), other compartments tooled in blind with a center fleur-de-lis with heart base, bordered with hooked scrollwork; turn-ins with repeating gilt border alternating candelabra and fleurons; board edges rolled in gilt; top edge gilt; quarto sewn with marbled endpapers, bronze silk ribbon bound in, bindery's ink stamp, verso of front endpaper. Size: 242 x 156 mm. Pawson & Nicholson: Established in 1848. James Pawson emigrated from England. Known for his edge gilding, he is credited as the first craftsman to practice the art in the United States. [The Independent, v. 54; American Bookbinders and their Work, p. 3001] Nicholson wrote the manual, "Art of Bookbinding" (1854), believed to be the first book on, "the technical aspects of bookbinding to be published in the United States". [Richard J. Wolfe, p. 100] Condition: Address I: Pages 1-2, two small stains at top edge; pp. 3-4, two small stains in fore-edge margin; p. 6, moderate foxing, chiefly in outer margin. / Address II: pp. 1-3, spotting at foot; pp. 4-5, some offset toning. / Address III: Fine / Manuscript Material: Fine / Boards: rubs, sunfaded spine with edgewear. / Gilt: Bright. / Binding: solid and reliable with joints cracking, hinges splitting. Circa 1929 seller description mounted on front blank. / Letter: p. 3, line 6 with neat paste repair to two words. / Clippings: two with slight toning; one with cockling. / Prints: Six prints are fine; two prints about fine; two prints near fine; two prints very good; two prints nearly very good, instances of minor foxing at a plate edge. Print no. 20: Good, some foxing. Print No. 13: Near Good with stain spot, fox spots in plate, foxing at bottom edge. Print Nos. 9 and 21: Acceptable. Print no. 6: Poor. Edition Note: No title page issued for Address II, title as heading of page 1. Compilation half-title page printed ca. 1826. Address I with praise of Sir Joshua Reynolds, printed by William Clowes, Northumberland Court, Strand, 1824; Address II with praise of Henry Fuseli, printed by D.S. Maurice, Fenchurch St., 1825; Address III with praise of John Flaxman, printed by D.S. Maurice, 1826. Pagination: Complete; 60 pages with 4 footnotes, the addresses paginated separately. Full Titles: Address I: Address to the Students of the Royal Academy, Delivered Before the General Assembly at the Annual Distribution of Prizes, 10th December, 1823. / Address II: Address to the Students of the Royal Academy at the Distribution of Medals, on the 10th of December, 1825. / Address III: Address to the Students of the Royal Academy, Delivered Before the General Assembly at the Annual Distribution of Prizes, 11th December, 1826. George IV: Prince Regent [1811-1820] and King after George III's death [1820-30]. From 1815, he lived at the Lower Lodge, later known as the Royal Lodge, within its own grounds at Windsor Great Park. From 1814, he was Lawrence's most important patron. Sir Thomas Lawrence: [1769-1830]: born in Bristol, son of a tavern keeper, elected age 22, Associate of the Royal Academy, appointed age 23, Painter-in-Ordinary to King George III, age 25, made a Royal Academy member, elected President of the Royal Academy after the death of Benjamin West. Lawrence's painting is characterized by energy, verve and use of color: Much admired for his modeling of hands, he also had a special method of illuminating female eyes, using white highlights. Lawrence is often called, "the greatest British portrait painter of the 19th century". [Herrmann, Nineteenth Century British Painting] Robert Balmanno [1779-1861]: born in Aberdeen; London home at Mornington Place, Hampton Road; friendships with William Blake, John Constable, Henry Fuseli, Thomas Hood, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Thomas Moore, et al; contributor to the "Literary Gazette" (1820s), notable print collector (Lugt 12354), Honorary Secretary for Artist's Benevolent Fund. Balmanno left England for the United States ca. 1831 and settled in New York where he co-founded an incarnation of the NY Shakespeare Society and influenced a generation of American collectors. While he sold a substantial part of his print collection (Sotheby's, May 4-12, 1830), he held on to his library and continued to add to his Lawrence memorial in the United States. Prints Itemized: 1) Address I title page frontispiece; half-length portrait of Lawrence in year of death, from painting by Charles Landseer, mezzotint steel engraving by James Thomson, published by Fisher, Son & Co., proof after letters, 1846. / 2) Death of Chatham, after the historical painting by John Singleton Copley, etching and engraving, by F. C. Nicholson, 158 x 247 mm, proof after letters, dated to 1834-36, rare. (William Pitt, the Elder, the first Earl of Chatham, collapsed from a stroke in the House of Lords after rising to speak during a debate on the American Colonies, April 7, 1778. He died a month later. Copley had to persuade 55 noblemen to sit for their portraits to make the now famous historical painting.) / 3) Self-Portrait of Sir Joshua Reynolds [1723-1792], engraved by Joseph Collyer the Younger [1748-1827], (portrait engraver to Queen Charlotte), done July 10, 1784, rare. / 4) Portrait Bust of Benjamin West, after Lawrence, stipple and etching on Chine collé by Edward Scriven, Hurst, Robinson & Co., 1820. / 5) Death of Dido, after a 1781 Sir Joshua Reynolds painting, mezzotint after letters by Samuel Cousins, 157 x 225 mm, ca. 1835 (date ascribed by Victoria & Albert Museum), rare. / 6) Portrait of Sarah Siddons [1755-1831], as 'The Tragic Muse', by S.W. Reynolds [1773-1835], mezzotint, stated proof state, ca 1820. / 7) Portrait of Sarah Siddons, no engraver, no date, identified in plate as from an early Lawrence portrait, on India paper, proof state, rare. / 8) Address II title frontispiece, for page one of Address II with title as heading; medallion portrait of Mary Ann Flaxman, believed after a Lawrence chalk drawing, ca. 1781-1786, in proof state before letters, 58 mm, excessively rare. (Print is opposite page one of Address II, which was printed with no separate title page, the title as the heading of page one.) / 9) Portrait of Henry Fuseli, not given but from a portrait commissioned by Robert Balmanno, done by George Henry Harlow [1741-1825] from life in 1818, engraved by Edward Scriven, partial letters proof state, 1831. / 10) Address III title page frontispiece; "Sir Thomas Lawrence Aged 35", after a stipple engraving by Frederick Christian Lewis Sr., taken from a Lawrence self-portrait drawing [Garlick, p.233.3, 1964], engraver unknown, published by Colnaghi, Son & Co. June 1, 1831, 73 x 63 mm, proof state before letters, very rare. / 11) Portrait of John Flaxman, after Derby, engraved by James Thomson [1788-1850], on India paper, published by Lupton Relfe for "European Magazine", 1823. / 12) Fanny Kemble [1809-1893], lithograph after a Lawrence drawing, not the widely printed portrait, a different and elegant design, proof state tinted pink, very rare. / 13) Lady Charlotte Bury [1775-1861] adapted and engraved by Thomas Wright from an 1803 Lawrence painting, after letters, no date, ca. 1830, scarce. / 14) Mariana from Lawrence, engraved by Robert Graves [1798-1873], published by Robert Ackermann, no date, but 1831. / 15) Mrs. (Harriet) Arbuthot [1793-1834], after Lawrence, no engraver or date but a line engraving by William Ensom [1796-1832], proof state, 1831. / 16) Lady Georgiana Agar Ellis [1804-1860], after a Lawrence drawing, engraved by Charles Heath [1785-1848], no date but December, 1829, published as the frontispiece in the 3rd annual issue of the poetry magazine, "The Keepsake", edited by Frederic Mansel Reynolds, co-founded by the same Charles Heath, rare now in like condition. / 17) His Majesty (King George IV), after a Lawrence painting, stated as formerly in the collection of the King's Privy Secretary, Sir William Knighton, no engraver or date provided, engraved by William Ensom, proof state after letters, 1831, rare. / 18) Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, partial letters, no date, stated as engraved by Charles Picart but misattributed by the printer. It is in fact, a stipple engraving by Robert Cooper, after a painting by William Hilton, after a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger, 387 x 260 mm, issued February 2, 1818, printer's proof state, very rare. 19) John Philip Kemble [1757-1823], the actor, posing as Cato, from Lawrence (attributed to 1812), line engraving by W. Greatbatch, done for the "Amulet", no date, but 1841. Laid in by later owner and not bound in, stipple engraving medallion bust by William Holl (father or son-unknown which), after the self-portrait by Peter Paul Rubens, 54 x 42 mm, dated to early 19th century. Laid in by later owner and not bound in, portrait bust of Benjamin West, after Lawrence, engraver not known. Reference: Garlick, Sir Thomas Lawrence, a complete catalogue of the oil paintings / Levey, Sir Thomas Lawrence / Yale Center for British Art, Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance. Additional Images: by request.