[ANTIQUARIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY / ORNAMENT]. Les maitres ornemanistes. Dessinateurs, peintres, architectes, sculpteurs et graveurs. Ecoles Francaise, - Italienne, - Allemande et des Pays-Bas (Flamande & Hollandaise)

Paris: E. Plon, 1881. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. Very good. Two vols. in one. Large thick quarto: xvi, 560 pp.; [vi],180 plates. Bound in very sturdy and handsome contemporary red half morocco over red cloth boards, rebacked with original spine laid down, top edges gilt, others untrimmed. ¶ First edition of the indispensable bibliography of ornament from the 16th to the 18th century, featuring artists from France, Italy, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. There are two volumes in one; in our copy the plates are apparent printed on CHINE paper.

The text is arranged according to artist / century / school. The second volume is composed entirely (truncated) of full-page plates (180 of them!) of ornaments for vases, book illustrations, jewelry, and furniture designs. With an alphabetical index of known artists. An excellent copy, notoriously difficult to obtain in collectible condition, as here.

Ours has a notable provenance, as it is the B.H. Breslauer copy, with his penciled accession number circled, and bookplate of the Bibliotheca Bibliographica Breslaueriana.

Arntzen/ Rainwater P68: "Important reference tool for research with prints, architecture and the decorative arts. (Inventory #: 857)