[Auction Catalog] The Ducal Estate of Stowe, Near Buckingham. The Historical Seat of the Dukes of Buckingham and Chandos and for some years the residence of the Late Comte de Paris. Messrs. Jackson Stops will Sell by Auction, at Stowe House, on Monday, July 4th, 1921, at 1 o'clock the Freehold of the Historic Mansion & Estate . . . On the Eighteen Days following (from July 5th to July 28th . . . will be Sold the Contents of the Mansion

Northampton and Towcester Buckingham; London: Messrs. Jackson Stops [and others], 1921. Limited Edition. Cloth-Backed Boards. Near Fine+. Catalog of the auctioneer Jackson Stops announcing the sale of the historical seat of the dukes of Buckingham and Chandos, the "most magnificent of [Britain's] private estates" and the "most celebrated English landscape of the day," (Jellicoe) No. 769, Colonel Seton of Mounie's copy, with his armorial book plate to front paste-down and letters relating to the sale tipped in. Royal 8vo (374 x 249mm): 232,[2]pp, extensively illustrated with map, four colored plans (two folding), and 59 full-page plates from photographs on glossy stock inserted. Original cloth-backed buff boards printed in black, upper cover inset with armorial coat of arms, stamped with copy number, and signed by Seton. Green broadsheet sale advertisement printed in black laid in; one of two permits to view estate removed from rear (presumably by Seton). Some prices realized neatly noted (generally for furniture and decorative arts lots), light foxing to end papers and edges, but a superior copy with important provenance and related ephemera, securely bound and clean throughout. Jellicoe (Oxford Companion to Gardens), pp. 72-75, 537. This remarkable sale extended to nineteen days, commencing on July 4, 1921, with the selling of 1400 acres (including the village of Dadford) and the mansion house, designed by William Cleare. In total, it comprised 3,955 lots of "heirloom pictures, tapestries and historic furniture, by the world's greatest masters, superb statuary and metal work, important collection of rare china, porcelain, an immense assortment of other objets d'art, the contents of the magnificent library [lots 2,000 to 2,499, including letters and manuscripts, sold on days 11 and 12], the valuable gold plate, carvings and panellings by Grinling Gibbons, famous classic temples and other buildings and bridges luxuriously built to designs by famous architects." The garden at Stowe, transformed by four successive owners (Sir Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham, and Richard and George Grenville) "had enormous influence on garden design, especially after experiments there in 'natural' gardening in the 1730s. It is historically important because it remained at the growing point of taste throughout the 18th c., exhibiting every stage of the garden revolution. Its final phase of idealized landscape survives relatively intact." (Jellicoe). N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).