Owen Jones’ The Grammar of Ornament - A Superb Copy
Marvelously Illustrated With Color Lithographs
Stunning Gilt on the Original Cloth Binding
Jones, Owen. THE GRAMMAR OF ORNAMENT. Illustrated From Various Styles Of Ornament (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1928) Reissue. With 112 chromolithgraphed plates and numerous black and white drawings in the text. Folio, publisher’s original maroon cloth lettered and extensively decorated with gilt pictorial devices, a.e.g. 157. A superb, as pristine copy, the stunning gilt still very bright, internally remarkably clean.
SCARCE, STUNNING COPY OF THE RICHLY ILLUSTRATED DEFINITIVE BOOK ON ORNAMENTATION. Before the publication of this book, Owen Jones was already well-known for his designs of the Crystal Palace and St. James’s Hall in London, his position as Superintendent of the London Exhibition in 1851, and his authorship of PLANS, ELEVATIONS, SECTIONS, AND DETAILS OF THE ALHAMBRA. The publication of this text, however, set him up as the definitive authority of decorative ornamentation. He states his goal in his preface: “All... I have proposed to myself in forming the collection which I have ventured to call the GRAMMAR OF ORNAMENT, has been to select a few of the most prominent types in certain styles closely connected with each other, and in which certain general laws appeared to reign independently of the individual peculiarities of each.” The author seeks to educate the general public to be mindful of the circumstances which had rendered certain ornaments beautiful initially so that the designs can be used knowledgeably; he claims that uneducated usage of ornaments for decoration “entirely fails” in preserving their beauty.
The result is a marvelous work of art. Jones’s depictions circle the globe, presenting examples of the ornaments of native “savage” tribes, Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Byzantine, Indian, Chinese, Celtic, Renaissance, medieval illuminated manuscripts, and even leaves and flowers from nature. The colored lithograph plates are exquisite and unequaled in detail and breadth. This work is truly the definitive authority on early decorative ornamentation, a rare find in such handsome condition. |
