Adams (E.) Polychromatic Ornament of Italy 1846 {by 1861} SLV [IB]

Adams, Edward (1814-75; English)
The Polychromatic Ornament of Italy, Part 1 (London: C.W.Nickisson, n.d. [1846])
Purchased by 1861
State Library of Victoria [SLV AF747 AD1]

The book comprises 12 chromo-lithographed plates, including the title page (as reproduced here), illustrating the development of decorative art in Italy in the early 16^th century. This was the first of a proposed series, not pursued further.

Adams was an architect who travelled to Italy and Greece in the early 1840s. An 1847 advertisement notes that the plates were made by Owen Jones after drawings by Adams.

[photo: title page from another copy]

Refs.

MPL 1861, p.3 (& MPL 1880)

See SLV catalogue (not illustrated). Other copies held elsewhere are reproduced online: see e.g. http://collection.hht.net.au/firsthhtpictures/fullRecord.jsp?recnoListAttr=recnoList&recno=50145 (copy in the Caroline Simpson Library & Research Collection, Sydney; quoting the advertisement from The Westminster Review, April-July 1847); for the copy illustrated here, see https://www.forumauctions.co.uk/20842/Adams-Edward-The-Polychromatic-Ornament-of-Italy-chromolithographed-plates-1846?auction_no=1003&view=lot_detail (websites accessed 15 Feb.2021)