In our latest Fine Books catalogue, discover a selection of some of the most beautiful and important books ever printed. A number of rare books featured have been sold but there are still some amazing items available including Gould's The Birds of Europe and Gautier-d’Agoty's anatomical albums.  The twentieth century is represented by Severini and the cover item, Matisse’s Jazz, is widely regarded as the finest illustrated book of the century.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us with queries.

Download pdf of catalogue

Collection of Twenty Original Drawings of Mills
[Flanders, ca. 1770]

20 ink drawings with watercolour and ink captions in French. £45,000

Beautiful group of unusually large technical plans and drawings of four Flemish mills built in the late 18th century - all hand-coloured in very fresh condition.

Using all resources of the colour palette as well as paper overlays on the main drawing, these twenty sheets show the mechanism and structure of wind-, water- and saw mills demonstrating the technical advancement of the famous northern European mills. The large format of the drawings, the attention to detail and the quality of the production suggest that the group was made for presentation purposes, probably by an architect-engineer to advertise his skills.

GAUTIER, Jacques-Fabien
Three anatomical albums.  Publication:  Paris, 1746-1748- 1752

£95,000

Science meets art in this impressive volume gathering Gautier d’Agoty’s most important early works with all plates superbly varnished to resemble oil paintings.

Jacques Fabien Gautier d'Agoty (1716–1785) was a French artist best known for his coloured mezzotints of anatomical figures. He was also the pupil of Jacob Christoph Le Blon (1667-1741) whose methods formed the foundation for modern colour printmaking.  Gautier additionally associated himself with surgeon Jacques-François-Marie Duverney and together the two produced a number of large, colourful anatomical atlases, which were noted more for their style and sometimes their shocking appearance than their usefulness to physicians. Macabre and beautiful, Anatomie Générale includes several spectacular full-length plates, made from three plates which could be fitted together.

MATISSE, Henri.
Jazz. Publication: Tériade, Paris, 1947 

The complete book, one of 250 copies, with Matisse’s autograph text lithographed throughout, and 20 stencilled colour plates. £400,000

A masterpiece of book illustration, Jazz is the only publication of which Matisse was both author and illustrator, characterised by brilliant colours, poetic texts and joyful circus and theatre themes.

The works represent the great artist’s lifelong unflagging creativity. Limited in his mobility at the age of 74, Matisse could not paint or sculpt. Instead, he cut out forms from coloured papers that he arranged as collages.  In 1947, Matisse’s publisher Tériade issued the prints in an artist’s portfolio with hand-written texts by Matisse expressing his thoughts as he created the images. Tériade came up with the title Jazz, which Matisse liked because it suggested a connection between art and musical improvisation.

GOULD, John.
The Birds of Europe. [1832]-1837

Five volumes folio with 448 hand-coloured lithographed plates. £115,000

John Gould is considered the Audubon of Great Britain, for his prolific and exhaustive production of color plates of birds in the 19th century.  This is a fine copy of his first multi-volume ornithological work and the first of his works to feature plates by Edward Lear: one of the greatest ornithological artists of all time. Lear's contributions included the most eye-catching subjects in the book: eagles, owls, cranes, pelicans, geese, swans, and flamingos.

The majority of the plates are drawn and lithographed by Elizabeth Gould from sketches and designs by the author.  "Lear's participation transformed the work of Mrs. Gould... He encouraged movement, vigor, and a sense of character in her birds; he instilled an idea of composition in which the subject related to its background instead of perching in midair like a cardboard cutout..." (Tree)

Find out More

For more information or to request a hard copy of our 2017 Illustrated Books catalogue please contact Julian MacKenzie.