LOT #42040 |
Sold on Jul 25, 2024 for: Not Sold
[Alberto Sangorski, calligrapher and illuminator]. Thomas Gray. "The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode." [London], 1916....
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Description
An exceptional Riviere binding with finely molded and colored leather relief panels with inlays
[Alberto Sangorski, calligrapher and illuminator]. Thomas
Gray. "The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode." [London],
1916.4to (261 x 200 mm). ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, 11 leaves (i.e. written or decorated on 18 pages, including colophon), plus 2 blank vellum leaves at front and 3 at rear, written in a semi-gothic script in black, with some initial letters or words in red. Title-page with miniature portrait of Gray surrounded by a full gilt-floral border in colors incorporating title with illuminated initial T against a gold ground; the page facing first page of text with full-page miniature within full decorative border heightened with gold, 2 smaller vignette miniatures incorporated into decorative borders, each miniature and vignette initial-signed by Sangorski; 9 large illuminated initials and other ornaments, text leaves with full or partial borders and heightened with gold, the decoration in bright, bold colors of purple, blue and green, mostly in Italian-acanthus style, other smaller initials in red.
Bound in full dark blue morocco by Riviere & Son in relievo-style, front cover with inlaid crimson border panel densely gilt with leaf and floral tools punctuated with dark blue circles, surrounding a large central recessed arabesque-shaped panel, with dark blue inlaid border, containing a blooming rose bush with a bird, bees (with wings of mother-of-pearl inlays), a ladybug, and a butterfly in finely molded relief of colored and painted leather set against a dotted-gilt ground; the rear cover similarly decorated with large recessed central panel containing morning glory flowers in bloom with their leaves inhabited by a moth, a caterpillar, ladybugs and bees (with wings of mother-of-pear inlays) in finely molded relief of colored and painted leather set against a dotted-gilt ground; spine in six compartments, gilt-lettered in two, a repeated inlaid floral gilt panel in the rest, board edges with double gilt fillets, doublures of inlaid maroon morocco with inlaid and gilt-ruled geometric interlace design, free endpages of grayish-blue watered silk, gilt edges, stamp-signed on turn-in: "bound by Riviere & Son." Housed in a custom straight-grained morocco clamshell box lined with silk and velvet, metal clasps.
A unique illuminated manuscript on vellum, in which Sangorski engages with and inserts himself into a genealogy of Neoclassicism. His devotion to the tradition of the medieval manuscript is at once classical and modern, and deeply entrenched in naturalistic aesthetics; the title page features a lush floral border surrounding a field of vines, and a similar border ornaments each page of text. Nine large illuminated initials are intertwined with the greenery, the language itself relying on and supporting the landscape of the page. Sangorski's four miniatures depict scenes of Classical Greek pastoral life, save for the title-page portrait of Gray. These images likewise seat Sangorski himself among the Romantics and Pre-Raphaelites, but also serve the greater purpose of establishing Gray's position as a sort of proto-Romantic. Although that title alone is too simple a reading of Gray's entire corpus, in the context of the specific poetry transcribed by Sangorski, the label bears out, the illustrations underscoring the Pindaric structure foundational to the text. The miniatures offer a further valence to the Romantic heritage Sangorski signals-he has styled them rather obviously after Lawrence Alma-Tadema, being equally devoted to texture, reflective surfaces, and tableaux of ancient Greece. Uncommon to Sangorski's series of manuscripts is the penultimate leaf, which bears a short biography of Gray.
The colophon statement in the manuscript reads: "This manuscript 'The Progress of Poesy' a poem by Thomas Gray was designed, written out, and illuminated by Alberto Sangorski for Messrs R. Riviere & Son Bookbinders and Booksellers by appointment to his Majesty King George V London. This manuscript will not be duplicated. This manuscript was executed by me [signed:] Alberto Sangorski."
Condition: Touch of rubbing to spine ends and corner extremities. Some wear and slight fraying to silk watered free endleaves; vellum leaves slightly waved (as typical). Upper cover of clamshell box repaired.
Provenance: Cornelius J. Hauck, Cincinnati (bookplate; purchased from John G. Kidd & Son, Inc., Cincinnati, 13 December 1945; sold Christie's New York, The History of the Book: The Cornelius J. Hauck Collection, 27 June 2006, lot 668, sold for $54,000); Edward R. Leahy (his sale, Christie's New York, 6 October 2022, lot 63, sold for $94,500).
Auction Info
2024 July 25 Historical Platinum Signature® Auction #6294 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
July, 2024
25th
Thursday
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