Darley, Felix Octavius Carr (artist -1822-1888) and James Fenimore Cooper (author - 1789-1851)

Darley's [James Fenimore] Cooper Vignettes. Artists Proofs. Folios 1-4 [32 engravings]

New York: W.A. Townsend and Company,1862. Folio. 11 x 15 inches.
Parts 1-4 only (of 8). Each containing 8 steel-engraved plates in India paper, mounted on French plate paper, each with accompanying letterpress. (Folio) 38 x2 7.5 cm (15 x 11") loose in original pictorial board portfolios, as issued.

The prints are artists proofs before letters. The publisher's prospectus, printed inside the front boards explains: “It was known that the extensive bank-note system of our country had developed a style of engraving superior in brilliancy and effect to almost anything which the European burins afford, but which, from its peculiarly laborious and costly method, has been confined nearly exclusively to bank-note dies. In order, therefore, to secure these Vignettes a style of execution which should commend them to all patrons of art, it was determined to have them engraved, so far as practicable, by the leading artists of this much admired school. It was the first attempt, it is believed, to introduce the deep cutting and solid lining of a bank-note die into book work, and was only accomplished at a cost fully double that usually paid for book illustrations of a similar character . . . No work of the same magnitude and kind has hitherto been accomplished in this country...”. The edition was limited to 500 impressions. Scarce.

Library of Congress Control Number
17002065. Item #16-2831

Price: $1,200.00