ON BLAKE: “A MAN WHOSE FANCY OVER-MASTERED HIS REASON. . .”

(Holbrook, Josiah).

A Familiar Treatise on the Fine Arts: Paintings, Sculpture, and Music.

Boston: James B. Dow, 1834. Item #585

Square 12mo. 165 x 135 mm., [6 ½ x 5 ¼ inches].  277 pp.  Original floral-patterned cloth; faded, joints showing some loss of cloth, label missing, front endpaper clipped.

First edition, second issue, originally published in 1833; a second edition appeared in 1837.  Rare school book, published for the education of the liberal public.  According to the author, this is the first book of its kind published in America, which concentrates on the history, criticism, and interpretation of the fine arts, including paintings, sculpture and music.  The author looks to Italy, Scotland, and Germany for the historical sketches he offers creates a critique based on a particularly American perspective.  One of the more interesting aspects of the book is that he devotes the first two pages of Chapter XV to the works of William Blake.  Page 104 is devoted to American painting.

Josiah Holbrook was the founder of the Lyceum movement in American and author of numerous book and manuals on the fine and technical arts with a focus on industry and craftsmenship.

This issue of the first edition not cited in OCLC.  NUC cites one copy at Harvard; other issues nearly as scarce.

.

Price: $300.00