Dinanderie A History and Description of Mediaeval Art Work in Copper Brass and Bronze [WITH ORIGINAL DRAWINGS FOR THE BOOK] by Tavenor-Perry, J. [John] (1842-1915) - 1910

Edinburgh: George Allen & Sons, 1910. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. John Tavenor-Perry. TEMPORARILY DISCOUNTED. WAS $5,850. NOW $2500. An EXCEEDINGLY SCARCE Fine copy of the first edition, first printing, of "Dinanderie A History and Description of Mediaeval Art Work in Copper Brass and Bronze" by the British architect, architectural historian, and specialist on medieval architecture John Tavenor-Perry, in a Fine example of the QUITE RARE dust jacket, TOGETHER WITH MOST OF THE ORIGINAL DRAWINGS USED IN THE BOOK. The book shows some pushing to the spine ends and a tiny tear to the spine tail. The corners are sharp and the book's colour is beautiful and full (without even a hint of the fading usually seen on other copies), and the gilt lettering to the spine is quite bright. Many of the page pairs are unopened at the leading edge, showing that the book has not been read, the page block's top edge is in gilt, and the volume feels rather tight and certainly has not been handled much. The QUITE RARE DUST JACKET shows some minor pushing and tearing as well as a bit of loss at the corners and edges and the rear panel shows a few tiny holes. The book comes with seven (7) separate volumes in good to very good condition which together contain what appears to be an earlier concept for the book's title page as well as all but 14 of the 71 ORIGINAL PROOFS for Dinanderie's illustrations (each of which is named as a "Figure" therein). [Dinanderie also contains 48 Plates taken from photographs rather than from Tavenor-Perry's Original Drawings.] The great majority of the Original Drawings have been executed on drawing boards, although several of them have been drawn on paper affixed to such boards. Many of them show handwritten notations in a hand or hands unknown to us stating how the particular drawing is to appear in the book. Many of the drawings are larger than their offspring in the book, rendering them more easily viewable in detail. These drawings are found in the above-referenced seven (7) separate volumes of Tavenor-Perry's Original Drawings. (Most of such separate volumes are in merely good or better condition. They show wear and tear to the bindings and many, if not most, of the boards which host the drawings having come loose from their respective bindings.) Four of these volumes -- those with blue spines -- are dedicated to Figures in Dinanderie, and the other three volumes contain multiple original drawings, some used in Dinanderie and some, if not all, of the others were used with other Tavenor-Perry works such as "Paschal Candlesticks and some others", an article by Tavenor-Perry which appeared in the October 1908 issue of Christian Art, an illustrated monthly magazine, a copy of which is housed in the Princeton University Library. One of the above-referenced separate volumes (labeled "Paschal Lights") includes all ten (10) Figures provided by Tavenor-Perry for such Christian Art article. Figures I and II therein also appear as Figures 35 and 36 in "Dinanderie", Figure III therein appears as Figure 39 in Dinanderie, and the three-item Figure IV therein appears as Figures 41, 42, and 43 in "Dinanderie"). Per the Meriam-Webster dictionary, "Dinanderie", means "decorative objects of brass, copper, or bronze chiefly for ecclesiastical or domestic use such as were made in the 13th to 15th centuries" and is defined in Collins Dictionary as: "fine cast metalwork objects, esp of bronze, made in the Belgian city of Dinant from the late Middle Ages, or other later metalwork in this style". Copies of Dinanderie are rather uncommon to the market, especially when in collectable condition, and most we have seen are faded and often also show meaningful wear. In our experience, copies in the dust jacket are virtually impossible to find. Copies as nice as is this copy are as scarce as hen's teeth and those this nice and in the dust jacket (especially in a dust jacket as nice as is this one) are scarcer still. Not only is this copy extraordinary, but accompanied by so many of the Original Tavenor-Perry drawings used in the book, it is ABSOLUTELY ASTONISHING.