NON-EXPORTABLE
TITLE: Tree and Serpent Worship
SUBTITLE: Illustrations of Mythology and Art in India in the First and Fourth Centuries after Christ: from the sculptures of the Buddhist topes at Sanchi and Amravati
AUTHOR: James Fergusson
PUBLISHER: India Museum: India Office (W. H. Allen & Co.)
PLACE: London
YEAR: 1868
BINDING: Publisher's red half hard-grain morocco on green sand-grained cloth, title gilt to the spine, neatly rebacked with the original spine laid down, large Naga Raja disk gilt to the upper board, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers.
NO.OF PAGES: xii + 247 pages including lithographic decorative title after a drawing of the northern gateway at Sanchi by Lieut--Col. Maisey and 40 other similar plates after Maisey, 57 mounted albumen prints. Of these photographs, 37 were taken by William H. Griggs (1832-1911) in 1854 and 20 were taken by James S. Waterhouse (1842-1922) in 1866. 2 of them across two pages, a double-page coloured plan, a full-page tinted map, and numerous wood-engravings to the text.
SIZE:
Height: 34.5 cm
Width: 28 cm
Depth: 7 cm
While Burne-James seems not to have been in any way influenced by Indian art, a serpentine theme certainly can be detected running through his work, famously in his The Doom Fulfilled (Perseus slaying the Sea Serpent); in the windows of St. Margaret's, Rottingdean; and his "portrait" of Sidonia von Bork with her robe patterned with "branching and knotted snakes, black upon the golden stuff"; but most suggestively the pencil sketch Serpent Women around Globe at the Art Institute of Chicago (The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection, 1922.1121) which seems to refer to the various serpent discs discussed in the present work. Although the book has been described as "fanciful" (David Boyd Haycock in ODNB), it remains an important record and is a superb example of an early photographically illustrated book involving three of the key players in the development of the form. James Fergusson (1808-1886), was one of Victorian Britain's most prominent architectural historians, respected by Ruskin, and the dedicatee of Schliemann's great work Tiryns, as "the historian of architecture, eminent alike for his knowledge of art and for the original genius which he has applied to the solution of some of its most difficult problems". However, he had no university education and began his career working for the family firm of Fairlie, Fergusson & Co. in Calcutta, before going into business as an indigo planter, he quickly made his fortune "and was able to retire, and as 'an expert draughtsman with a camera-lucida' he explored India 'chiefly on a camel's back, from end to end and from side to side' exploring the rock-cut temples of Ajanta, Ellora, and elsewhere" (ODNB). In 1866, he was preparing a display on Indian architecture for the 1867 Paris Exhibition and was looking for sculptures, or architectural fragments, to cast "to draw attention....[and] give some character" to his exhibition of photographs. He was "not a little astonished" to discover that " large collection of marbles" from Amravati Tope - a site that he had "thought it well worth [making] a voyage to India especially for the purpose of exploring" - were stored for their preservation in the coach-house of the India Museum at Leadenhall Street (Preface). So he set to work on a monograph describing the site, and to this end, the pieces were photographed by William Griggs, the Museum photographer, and inventor of the photolithographic process by which many of the plates in the present work were produced. In the course of his researches on the subject, Fergusson then uncovered "a beautiful series of drawings" of Sanchi Tope in the Indian Office library, at the same time receiving " a set of photographs" of the same monument from Lieut. James Waterhouse, which lead him to reconsider the form of the book, expanding it to combine the accounts of the two monuments. Waterhouse, whose images of Sanchi Tope arrived so serendipitously, went on to become President of the Royal Photographic Society 1905-6, having been awarded the Society's Progress Medal in 1891 for his work on dye sensitising; and Griggs' pioneering work in chromo photolithography, and with the half-tone and collotype processes lead to him being obituarized by the Printer's Register as "that venerable craft father of ours".
This lot will be sold in "as is" condition.
There may be some minor tears/creases scratches, or holes commensurate with age that may not be visible in the images.
The books on sale in this auction are rare, out-of-print and otherwise collectable, dating from the 19th century onwards. The technology and material for printing and binding books has evolved over the last few centuries. From being the exclusive preserve of Clergy and Kings to an item of everyday application, the availability and use of books has also evolved over time. Books age over time and deterioration in a book's condition depends on many factors, including the original materials used and conditions of usage over time. Books will often show signs of foxing, fading, shelf-ware or dust jacket damage through usage. Prolonged storage may also cause wormhole damage or water stains.
The absence of a condition statement does not imply that the lot is in perfect condition or completely free from wear and tear, imperfections or the effects of ageing. Condition requests can be obtained via email. Any condition statement given, as a courtesy to a client, is only an opinion and should not be treated as a statement of fact. Storyltd shall have no responsibility for any error or omission.