The Pendleton Collection. Author's Copy.

(Providence, R.I.): Rhode Island School of Design, 1904. Pre-First edition. Folio (11 x 13 1/2 inches). Working copy with text, plate numbers/titles, and plates mounted, forming a mock-up of the intended "finished" work: photogravure frontispiece, 102 photogravure plates, numerous smaller illustrations. A few images or text loosely inserted. The plates in this copy appear to be collotypes, a superior reproduction process and it provides much clearer details. Contemporary brown cloth with morocco gilt lettering label. Some rubbing to binding and a bit puffed out due to the numerous insertions and this has also caused a weakening of the joints (although they remain firm and strong) but a very clean copy and with superior plates.This unique working copy of an important American furniture collection catalog was written by Lockwood, the 'pioneering furniture scholar' in America. The published work, with 102 full-page photogravure plates, is limited to just 160 copies. It is almost undoubtable that this is the printer's copy, as he was on the only person knowledgeable enough to make the corrections seen within the book. The published edition is much thinner as it does not contain for each of the 102 examples, a tipped in (as opposed to printed) collotype plate, tipped-in text leaf on top of a blank leaf, and the leaf before each plate bears a tipped-in item title an number and plated number. Plus there are numerous added illustrations in the margins; all of this made the book quite thick. One would have expected galley proofs but this is much more desirable. Charles L. Pendleton (1846-1904) "was an early proponent of collecting American works at the time when interest in national heritage was just beginning to flourish, and he traveled widely in search of the best examples to fill his home. Recognized by American furniture scholar Luke Vincent Lockwood as the "father of art as applied to furniture," Pendleton contributed greatly to the study of American decorative arts and inspired a generation of collectors." (RISD Museum: Charles Pendleton House).