{"title":"A Catalogue of Catalogues","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis year marks the 175th anniversary of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations. Lasting from May to October 1851, it brought together design and industry from across the world while acting as a showcase for British soft power. This country was, after all, the workshop of the world. The Great Exhibition was perhaps the high water mark of Victorian self-confidence and the gloomy among us might see it as marking the start of a century and three-quarters of steady decline. The Duke of Hamilton probably thought so as, thirty-one years later, he put the contents and library of his stupendous Palace with Christie’s and Sotheby’s to try and ease his mountain of debt. The auction catalogues for these sales (which include the results and the names of the buyers) make entertaining reading and one can imagine their previous owner’s (Barry Humphries) little smiles and gasps of envy.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"den-frie-udstilling-fortegnelse-over-kunstvaerkerne-paa-den-frie-udstilling-1893-1893-4085","title":"Fortegnelse Over Kunstvaerkerne Paa Den Frie Udstilling 1893","description":"\u003cbr\u003eKjobenhav [Copenhagen]:   J.Jorgensen \u0026amp; Co.  . 1893.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003evan Gogh, Gauguin and the Danish avant-garde\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eA catalogue of the first exhibition of paintings by Van Gogh in Denmark. 170x135mm. Text block 155x125mm. Unpaginated. 36pp. In original grey paper wrappers, with title, date and floral decoration on the front cover. Bound into blue half cloth and decorated paper covered boards. Some slight rubbing to the boards but the catalogue itself and its delicate wrappers are in excellent condition. Rare, Worldcat locating only two copies, one in Denmark and the other in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. \u003cbr\u003eThis modest little booklet listing the works of art displayed at Den Frie Udstilling in 1893, captures an important moment in European art: it records the public bringing together of the work of Gauguin and Van Gogh and it also marks a crucial step in the establishment of the reputation of Van Gogh. Den Frie Udstilling (The Free Exhibition) was founded in 1891 as a protest against the narrow and conservative admission policy of the Kunsthal Charlottenborg gallery of the Royal Danish Academy of Art. Taking as its inspiration the Impressionists' Salon des Refusés, Den Frie Udstilling was founded by the painter, printer and designer Johan Rohde, an early champion of Van Gogh whose work he collected. The first exhibition was dominated by Danish artists including Vilhlem Hammershoi, Harald and Agnes Slott-Moller and Rodhe himself. In 1893, Den Frie Udstilling moved to a specially designed wooden pavilion in the centre of Copenhagen and exhibited forty-nine paintings by Paul Gauguin and twenty-eight works by Van Gogh including two of his\u003cem\u003e Sunflowers, a Self-Portrait\u003c\/em\u003e, a study of a crab, a drawing of the garden of the hospital at Arles and the beautiful \u003cem\u003eWhite Orchard\u003c\/em\u003e. Of Gauguin's works, fewer than half date from, or from before, his short, disastrous stay in Copenhagen in 1884-85 when he moved there to join his Danish wife. Clearly the regard in which Gauguin was held by Danish artists survived his difficult Copenhagen period. \u003cbr\u003eVan Gogh and Gauguin were, of course, close friends, living together in Arles for a few months at the end of 1888 before the relationship soured. Immediately after Van Gogh's death in 1890, his brother Theo ensured that exhibitions of Vincent's work were staged as widely as possible. With Theo's death in 1891, it seemed that Van Gogh's reputation might fade. Certainly Gauguin did little to assist, so one wonders what he might have felt at co-staring in this 1893 Copenhagen show. It was only through a handful of exhibitions in the 1890s such as this one at Den Frie Udstilling that Van Gogh's position in the canon became secure.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Den Frie Udstilling","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43105342980287,"sku":"4085","price":2000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/P1026170HEADSHOT.jpg?v=1713454061"},{"product_id":"w-h-haseler-ltd-manufacturing-jewellers-goldsmiths-silversmiths-pewterers-trade-catalogue-1905-4653","title":"Manufacturing Jewellers, Goldsmiths, Silversmiths \u0026 Pewterers. [Trade Catalogue]","description":"\u003cbr\u003eBirmngham: W.H.Haseler Ltd. 1905.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eUnrecorded trade catalogue. Designed by Archibald Knox, manufactured by William Haseler, sold by Liberty \u0026amp; Co. \u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eTwenty seven leaves illustrated (on the recto only) with designs for gold and silver jewellery, rose bowls, cigarette cases, toilet ware (i.e. hairbrushes, scent bottles and the like), pewter clocks and more. Each leaf is protected by a tissue sheet on which the name and price are printed so that, when the tissue lies on the illustrated leaf, the text details match up with the picture. Bound in pale blue\/grey card wrappers tied at the left edge with blue cord. Some soiling to covers and tears to the edges and the tissue paper is a little browned but still clear and transparent. The illustrated leaves are all in excellent condition. \u003cbr\u003eWilliam Hair Haseler founded his company in 1870, specialising in gold and silver work. In 1875, Arthur Liberty opened a small shop in Regent Street in London. Liberty's, with its finger on the pulse of the Arts and Crafts Movement and Art Nouveau quickly became the most fashionable shop in London. In 1898, Liberty and Haseler formed a partnership and then, in 1899, they began using Archibald Knox as one of their principal designers. Knox worked and studied with Christopher Dresser and, like Dresser, managed to bring together elements of Art Nouveau, Modernism and Arts and Crafts design. It is thought that Knox produced some 5,000 designs for Haseler and Liberty's.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"W.H.HASELER Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55926532309369,"sku":"4653","price":1500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/4653.Haseler_1.jpg?v=1767711945"},{"product_id":"5247","title":"Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue. In three volumes.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Spicer Brothers \u0026amp; W. Clowes \u0026amp; Sons. 1851.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFive volumes. First edition. 280x175mm. Vol. I: pp. cxcii, 478, 465*-476*; Vol. II: pp. [6], 480-1002; Vol. III: pp. [4], 1003-1462. Vol. IV: pp. xxviii, [2], [1471]-1532. \u003cem\u003eFirst report of the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851. \u003c\/em\u003eliv, 211 [1]; \u003cem\u003eSecond report:\u003c\/em\u003e [2], 76; 15pp press reports of the Exhibition, [8pp adverts]. Vol. V.\u003cem\u003e Report of the Juries on the subjects in the thirty classes into which the exhibition was divided.\u003c\/em\u003e pp[8], cxx, 867 [1], 16pp press reports of the Exhibition. (lacking 8 leaves of the index. Illustrated throughout with engraved plates (three of which are coloured) and many engravings in the text. Two of the called-for plates are missing but there are two additional plates which do not appear to be called for. In the original publisher's blue cloth with elaborate borders in blind with, in the centre of the upper cover, a design in rich gilt representing the four continents of Europe, Asia, Africa and America represented in the Exhibition. This is repeated in blind on the lower cover. All edges gilt. Some slight rubbing to extremities and bumping to head and foot of spine and some slight marking to the boards in places but otherwise in very good condition. Internally very good throughout, this is a very nice, full set in the very well preserved original bright blue cloth. \u003cbr\u003eAlmost as impressive as the Exhibition itself, the full Catalogue is a great testament to Victorian energy. It is huge and extensively illustrated and is by far the most complete guide to the Great Exhibition making it perhaps the best compendium of, and source book for, mid nineteenth-century taste not just in Britain but across the world. Usually found in only three volumes, this set contains the full four volumes listing all the items in the exhibitions and also includes the Reports of the Commissioners and the Juries.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63929142706553,"sku":"5247","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/5247_1.jpg?v=1783688460"},{"product_id":"5254","title":"Catalogue of The Collection of Pictures, Works of Art, and Decorative Objects, the Property of His Grace The Duke of Hamilton, K.T.","description":"which Will be Sold by Auction by Messrs. Christie, Manson \u0026amp; Woods.\u003cbr\u003eLondon: Christie, Manson \u0026amp; Woods. 1882.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eBarry Humphries's copy.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003e8vo. 235x155mm. pp. 234. Illustrated with black and white photographs. Original red cloth lettered in gilt on upper cover and spine. Spine a little faded. Slight bumping to extremities and marking to lower cover. Hinges cracked and a number of leaves loose. Upper cover has ownership inscription of Wroth A. Lethbridge. This is Sir Wroth Acland Lethbridge (1831-1902). His bookplate is on the front pastedown as is that of Barry Humphries, the celebrated comic and bibliophile. \u003cbr\u003eLethbridge clearly attended the sale (he bought an item) and studied it closely afterwards as he has noted, in a neat hand in red ink, the price that each lot brought along with the name of the successful bidder (including Lethbridge himself). \u003cbr\u003eWilliam Douglas-Hamilton (1845-1895), 12th Duke of Hamilton inherited his Dukedom. This came with land, money, houses (including Hamilton Palace) and a mountain of debt. He then spent the next twenty years adding hugely to the last of these. As well as racehorses and yachts, he bought items for the family collection (his tastes were quirky). Over seventeen days in June and July 1882, in an attempt to stem the flow, he sold over two thousand items in what has been described as \"the most magnificent sale of a single collection that has ever been held anywhere\". It raised £397,562 (all neatly noted by Lethbridge) but more significantly, it marked\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Christie, Manson \u0026 Woods","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63929143034233,"sku":"5254","price":200.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20260702_173227.jpg?v=1783698097"},{"product_id":"5260","title":"The Hamilton Palace Collection. Illustrated Priced Catalogue.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eParis and London: Librairie de l'art and Remington and Co.. 1882.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003e290x215. [8], 243 [1]. pp. xiv adverts. Illustrated with black and white photograph and engravings. Original cloth, lettered and illustrated in black to upper cover and in gilt on the spine. Patterned endpapers. Some soiling to covers, bumping and wear to corners and to head and foot of spine. Internally very good but with some staining and foxing. Front pastedown and verso of front free endpaper have the book tickets of Foyles and the front free endpaper has the bookplate of Barry Humphries. Annotated throughout in a neat hand including, very helpfully, notes at the end explaining who some of the buyers are and the institutions for which they were buying. Also on one of the final advertisement pages, contemporary newspaper cuttings about the sale have been pasted in and loosely inserted. A nice copy of the official sale record of the auction of the Hamilton Palace collection.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"Hamilton Palace","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63929143165305,"sku":"5260","price":75.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20260702_173024.jpg?v=1783697809"},{"product_id":"5278","title":"Telescopic View of the Interior of the Great Industrial Exhibition.","description":"\u003cbr\u003eLondon: C. Lane. 1851.\u003cbr\u003e\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eA 19th century virtual reality experience of the Great Exhibition.\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eAccordion-style paper peepshow of the Great Exhibition in 1851. 160 x 175 mm extending to c650mm. Ten hand-coloured lithographic cardboard panels, eight with die-cut openings and the other two providing the front and back covers. The front panel has a viewing lens. Housed in the original slipcase which is stained and slightly torn in places and there is some soiling to the front and back panels but otherwise in very good condition with the internal prints particularly clean. \u003cbr\u003eThis entertaining memento of the of the Great Exhibition shows the interior of the Crystal Palace depicting the view towards the British Nave across the Transept from the Foreign Nave. \u003cbr\u003eFront cover: the title, a herald drawing a family's attention to the Crystal Palace, and the artist's name. \u003cbr\u003ePanel 1: visitors in the Crystal Palace.\u003cbr\u003ePanel 2 -3: visitors in the Foreign Nave, with equestrian statues.\u003cbr\u003ePanel 4: visitors in the Transept, with the Crystal Fountain.\u003cbr\u003ePanel 5: visitors in the British Nave, with the Silk Trophy.\u003cbr\u003ePanel 6 - 7: visitors in the British Nave, with glass exhibits.\u003cbr\u003ePanel 8: visitors in the British Nave, with the Seeley Fountain.\u003cbr\u003eBack panel: visitors inside the Crystal Palace.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e","brand":"LANE, C","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63929143296377,"sku":"5278","price":750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/20260703_122220.jpg?v=1783697331"},{"product_id":"5282","title":"Exhibition Catalogue","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eParis Georges Petit. 1889.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 class=\"vrb_heading\"\u003eThe first trade edition in the original wrappers.\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eFirst trade edition. 8vo. 245x160mm. pp89. In the original wrappers with small repair to head of spine but otherwise in very good condition throughout. This is the original catalogue for the joint exhibition of work by Monet and Rodin held at the Galerie Georges Petit. It consists of an essay on Monet by Octave Mirbeau and one on Rodin by Gustave Geffroy together with the lists of the work by both artists. A very good copy of first trade edition of this rare and important document.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003eGeorge Petit opened his gallery in 1882 and it quickly became the finest private exhibition space in Paris showing major work by many of leading contemporary French and international artists. Rodin and Monet were first exhibited together there in 1886 along with work by Renoir. Petit's Sixth International Exhibition in 1887 showed their work with that of Whistler, Sisley and Pissarro. \u003cbr\u003eAlthough Petit intended that the 1889 Exhibition would continue this multi-artist approach, by February 1889, it was agreed that the show was to feature, in Monet's words to Rodin, \"only you and me\". Monet contributed one hundred and forty five works: the exhibition was crucial for him as he was constantly struggling for public, critical and financial success. We forget how radical and unsettling contemporaries found his work. This exhibition and Mirbeau's catalogue essay did much to establish Monet's reputation. \u003cbr\u003eRodin exhibited only thirty six pieces, the first in the catalogue being the monumental \"Groupe de bourgeois de Calais\". This was set up against a wall of Monet's paintings obscuring them and causing a row between the artists during which Rodin shouted: \" I don't give a damn about Monet\". Despite this, the two subsequently became good friends with huge respect for each other's art. Petit's exhibition was an enormous success and remains a landmark in the history of late nineteenth-century art history.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MONET, Claude \u0026 RODIN, A","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63966116217209,"sku":"5282","price":1250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/Galerie_Georges_Petit._Claude_Monet._A_Rodin._Exhibition_Catalogue..jpg?v=1783957055"},{"product_id":"white-john-p-garden-furniture-and-ornament-c1915-4963","title":"Garden Furniture and Ornament","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBedford: The Pyghtle Works. [c1915].\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003e310x250mm. pp. 240. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs and there are three full plate colour illustrations. Beige quarter cloth. Grey paper covered boards, with colour illustration pasted onto upper cover. Some marking and rubbing to boards and to head and foot of spine. Internally very good although with some foxing and staining to edges in places. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eA very nice copy of a rare and very full catalogue of garden furniture and ornament produced by John P. Whyte at the Pyghtle Works in Bedford. The catalogue lists almost everything one could want for a garden: benches and tables, of course, but also sundials, pigeon cotes, well-heads, bridges, palm boxes and fruit storing trays. John White and the Pyghtle Works collaborated closely with many of the leading architects and designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement including Baillie Scott, Lethaby and Voysey. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eNone of the items in this extensive catalogue is attributed to a named designer but the quality is, as one would expect, very high and this is an excellent example of Arts and Crafts design from the high point of the movement. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_desc\"\u003eJISC Library Hub locates only one copy of the catalogue with Worldcat adding one further copy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_note\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_prov\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"vrb_biblio\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WHITE, John P","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":63966116577657,"sku":"4963","price":650.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/files\/WHITE_John_P._Garden_Furniture_and_Ornament._Bedford_The_Pyghtle_Works._c1915.jpg?v=1783957465"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1484\/0910\/collections\/catalogue-of-catalogues.jpg?v=1783955859","url":"https:\/\/voewoodrarebooks.com\/collections\/a-catalogue-of-catalogues.oembed","provider":"Voewood Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}