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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Denis Joachim Collection
• Sale Date:
  19 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 1: Lots 1 - 321
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 10am - Session 2: Lots 322 - 480
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 3: Lot 481 - 688
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 6pm - Session 4: Lots 689 - 818
• Lot #:
  177
• Lot Description:
  Prout, John Skinner. Sydney Illustrated By J.S. Prout. With Letter Press Description by J. Rae. M.A.
  Quarto, plain lithographed title-page with a vignette of “The Tombs, Garden Island, 14 tinted lithographed plates (two double-page) and a double-page map, bound in a signed Sydney binding of the period in half calf gilt with W. Ford’s binder’s ticket, the original titling wrappers to parts one and two mounted as pastedown endpapers, an attractive copy in appropriate contemporary condition. [Sydney and] Hobart, [J.S. Prout and] T. Bluett, 1844.
• Notes:
  The rare collective issue as published in one volume by Prout and Bluett from Hobart from 1844. Comparison between the two ‘editions’ in the Joachim collection demonstrates several points of interest from which inferences can be drawn. Two plates are significantly different versions in this issue: the plate of Woolloomooloo Bay has quite different anecdote and is clearly printed from an entirely different stone to that in the Sydney 1842-3 issue; the plate of New Government House is completely new, again with quite different anecdote and composition, lithographed by one of Bluett’s employees, with “J.S Prout bel [sic]” in the image bottom left, and “W. Nicholas Lith” in the image bottom right. In almost all instances the plates are printed on heavier paper than that found in the Sydney issue. It should also be noted that the plates of Woolloomooloo Bay and Port Jackson are in this copy mounted artist’s proofs on fine india paper (and clearly so issued). Further, several plates show signs of wear to the lithographic stone, with either a small blank patch, attrition of fine lettering in a caption, and so on. The inference that might reasonably be drawn is that as occasion demanded new impressions of plates were taken from the original stones, which Prout had evidently brought with him from Sydney. In some cases the stones began seriously to wear and, consequently, old stock of proof plates or even variant stones (“Woolloomooloo Bay”) were used to make up the required number of plates. In the case of “New Government House”, it is probable that the stone and the stock of plates were both exhausted and so, if we accept that Prout may have either been pre-occupied with other work or may even have left the colony by then, Bluett had his staff produce a new lithographic stone. Such oddities of production are common with colonial illustrated publications, more so when privately-published as Sydney Illustrated was, and should not surprise. It is unlikely that any ‘canonical’ copy of this Bluett issue exists nor that other copies will exhibit the same variations as the present copy. Abbey, 576; Ferguson, 3891; Wantrup, 227b (requiring revision).
• Estimate:
  A$30,000 - 40,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Books & Manuscripts

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.