BUCOLICA GEORGICA ET AENEIS
1766rif. ST21237Birmingham: Johannis Baskerville 1766. 195 x 125 mm. 7 3/4 x 5". 1 p.l. 388 pp. Attractive contemporary red straight-grain morocco covers with gilt beaded roll border enclosing blind-stamped frame smooth spine gilt in compartments with oval centerpiece formed by multiple small tools gilt lettering gilt-rolled turn-ins marbled endpapers all edges gilt. WITH AN EARLY 19TH CENTURY FORE-EDGE PAINTING of a stately home on a knoll with wooded grounds. Engraved allegorical frontispiece by C. Grignion after S. Wale. Title page with engraved ornament with symbols of the three Virgilian works. Front pastedown with engraved bookplate of R. Nash Bricknell and with old dealer description pasted at head. Front flyleaf with ink inscription: William Semicot Bricknell. / Presented by Mr. Paine of / Trinity College Oxon. / February 1818"; small later ink inscription: "P. and H. / from / T. J. B. / Xmas. / 1935." Gaskell 34. Spine slightly darkened the binding with small minor signs of use negligible foxing in the text due to paper quality a bit more noticeable in the second half other trivial imperfections but still a pleasing copy the binding solid and lustrous the text fresh and the tranquil pastel fore-edge painting attractive. Printed by the best English press of the period this collection of Virgil's works is of interest as a piece of printing in an appealing contemporary binding but is offered with the hidden fillip of an attractively executed fore-edge painting. Our printer John Baskerville 1707-75 started his career as a writing master then began cutting letters for gravestones before becoming a printer and typefounder. He left a typeface as his most enduring legacy to the art of the book and the beauty of Baskerville typefaces is attested to by the popularity they have enjoyed ever since their creator's time. This typographically attractive book set in Baskerville's small "Bourgeois" roman is equally as appealing externally. The fore-edge painting depicts a grand home its solid square facade glowing in the late afternoon sun while the surrounding lawn is covered in the delicate blue shadow of the copse of trees that stands behind. The sky a lighter blue is studded with large wooly clouds whose shape charmingly resembles the trees the artist has depicted below. The age of a fore-edge painting is very often difficult to determine but this painting could possibly have been executed around 1818 when the book was given to a youthful William Simcox Bricknell 1806-88. The son of Thomas Fox Bricknell who served three times as the mayor of Oxford from 1803-04 1818-19 and 1828-29 the younger Bricknell attended Oxford University matriculating at Worcester College in 1822. He remained in Oxfordshire for much of his career serving as vicar in various parishes most notably Eynsham. The bookplate on the pastedown indicates he passed this book on to his own son Richard Nash Bricknell 1839-1905 who followed in his footsteps studying theology at Oxford and then embarking on a career in the Church. Johannis Baskerville unknown
