Rare: Wall-Paintings in Croughton Church Northamptonshire Tristram & James 1927.

 This is a very rare book that records a lecture communicated on the 10th June 1926, it has the full title of:

Wall-Paintings in Croughton Church

Northamptonshire

by

E.W. Tristram, F.S.A.

and

M.R. James, LITT.D., F.S.A.

Communicated to the Society of Antiquaries.

Oxford

Published by Printed by John Johnson for the Society of Antiquaries, London

1927

 

This is an original publication of some 42 pages with fine illustrations and colour plates almost 100 Years old. Allan Ramsay, Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and a former master at Eton, inherited Croughton House and M.R. James visited him while the church was being restored. E.W. Tristram advised on the preservation of the wall paintings and remarked “a very interesting lot in two rows on the aisle walls — of the life of Christ soon after 1300 at the latest”. Tristram’s paper discusses the paintings in a general way while M.R. James writes a detailed iconography of each painting in the series, keyed to the plates, of which there are 13 in total, three in colour.

E.W. Tristram, one of the authors writes in his introduction: One of the most remarkable periods in the history of English art is that which covers the closing years of the thirteenth and the opening years of the fourteenth centuries. This period is distinguished, among other evidences of intense artistic vitality, by the appearance of a group of illuminated manuscripts, some of which were produced by the famous East Anglian school of illuminators, while others had their origin in London. Their works bear the impress of their artists' contact with a busy world; they mark an advance upon their predecessors, not however because they cut themselves adrift from the ‘hieratic’ traditions maintained in the monastic houses, for at least another century had to pass before this finally occurred, but in their purely artistic qualities; they express swifter movement, show more vivid observation, and manifest a greater delight in all natural and human form. For a century or more English art had shown remarkable powers of growth: now it began to emerge from the cloister; artists and craftsmen congregated in centres, and they became forcing houses, as it were, of a new and luxuriant growth, which was peculiarly and essentially English without any immediate counterpart on the continent.

 

This is not a copy, reprint or an offprint, but an original First Separate Edition, reprinted from Achaeologica Vol. LXXV1. The hard cover book with marbled boards with Art Vellum spine titled in gilt lettering and is of 42 pages in clean and bright condition, some wear to the covers and corners, one page has a small tear. Fine photographs and colour plates. The book measures approx. 30cm by 24.5cm by 0.8cm.

 

This is an incredibly scares publication, I can only find one other being offered for sale at $375.

 

Please see pictures for more details.

Thanks for looking and Happy Bidding!

Recycled packaging is used as much as possible.

I am always happy to combine postage, all I ask if you let me know if you are bidding on more than one item within a few days of each other. I will pack and weigh the items together and get the best possible price that I can, sometimes weight or value might dictate that I send multiple parcels to get a better value for you.