[GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE]. A Collection of Designs for Rural Retreats as Villas. Principally in the Gothic and Castle Styles of Architecture

London: Printed by J. and T. Carpenter, 1803. First Edition. Very good. Large 4to. [4], xii, 43, [1] pp. + [3] page list of published works by John Malton and James Malton. Complete with aquatint half-title and 34 plates of which 29 are stunningly hand-colored and 5 are full-page plates (plans) printed in sepia only. The plates are watermarked "Whatman 1801." Contemporary acid-treated calf, unusually acid-treated with decorative lozenges surrounded by a gilt Greek-key border, flat spine, black lettering piece partially chipped, binding extremities somewhat worn, black, white, red and green marbled pastedowns and endpapers, overall in BEAUTIFUL CONDITION, the paper and plates unspoiled and extremely fresh. EXQUISITELY HAND-COLORED COPY, RARE THUS.

Only edition of this very little-known, beautifully illustrated volume of imaginative designs of country "tiny houses" houses and small castles in the neo-Gothic style. In his own words the author / artist asserted that the goal of the present work was "to reject the Grecian and Roman mode of fabrick, for more picturesque forms, and less expensive decoration." The influence of Uvedale Price was in evidence here, with landscapes becoming wilder (i.e. more picturesque), and with unusual architectural designs and plans; see for instance the bizarre three-sided villas and castles with their elongated domes and wings. It would appear that our architect was influenced by Claude, Salvator Rosa, and Vanbrugh.

The designer, James Malton, was not only an engraver but a watercolorist; was the present copy hand-colored by him? According to Hardie, "Malton as a topographical draughtsman had few equals, and the plates have a distinction of their own in addition to their value as an architectural record."

James Malton (1761-1803) was born in London and came to Ireland with his father Thomas Malton the Elder, likewise an architectural draftsman. Like his father he was a professor of perspective and geometry, and like his brother Thomas (the Younger) produced some very fine architectural drawings. For three years worked in the studio of the famous Irish architect James Gandon. A talented designer recognized at the time, he regularly participated in exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London between 1791 and 1803. Malton was famed for his "Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin" (1799) whereas our collection of gothic architectural designs has been completely overlooked by architectural historians -- unfortunate because his proposed designs for "rural retreats" (i.e. gothic houses and small castles) exhibit imagination with fine perspectives as well as their plans.

Ours is the only copy currently on the market, colored or uncolored (but compare our gorgeous copy to the foxed and browned copy of Malton's "Dublin" currently on offer for $26,150). Since 1931 eight other copies of Malton's "Collection of Designs for Rural Retreats" have appeared at auction according to RBH (to which we add the Vroom copy); NONE of them were hand-colored, and only a few of them were actually worth owning. Searching through the first 20 Weinreb catalogues and the first 54 Pagan catalogues produce zero copies (colored or uncolored); Weinreb's Catalogue 35 lists one copy, which was uncolored (item 181). Yale Center for British Art holds 20 of Malton's preparatory drawings for the "Collection of Designs" and two copies of the published work (one is ex-Abbey). NEITHER ONE is hand-colored, nor is the Beinecke copy.

To digitized copy on HathiTrust (the UC Berkeley, bound in library buckram) is not only uncolored but it makes Malton's work look MISERABLE and hardly compares with our hand-colored copy, which MUST BE SEEN TO BE FULLY APPRECIATED.

References: Abbey, Life in England no. 35. Berlin Katalog 2311.

Cataloguer's note: There are two other Malton works in the Millard Collection (now NGA); the Millard Catalogue of British Books mentions our, but he never owned a copy it and there is no copy of it in NGA or in many other "obvious" repositories.

Provenance: Fonsie Mealy 2014 (EUR 6,600).