Reliquiae Britannico-Romanae, containing figures of Roman Antiquities discovered in various parts of England.
1801. London: printed by T. Bensley for Cadell & Davies, etc., [1801-]1813-1815.
3 parts in one volume, huge folio, 23 x 17 1/4 inches 3 additional color-printed and hand-finished engraved vol. titles, engraved dedication, 7 engraved part titles, 6 of which color-printed and finished by hand, 4 engraved leaves of lists of plates color-printed and with hand-finished vignettes, 111 engraved plates, of which 99 finely hand-colored or partially hand-colored, 12 either plain or printed in monochrome colour, 37 double-page or folding; 10 pp. of letterpress text at the end. Contemporary russia, rebacked, gilt supralibros unidentified, board corners and edges worn in places. The Lysons family copy, later the Jeudwine copy with his bookplate.
§ Lysons’s own copy, inscribed by his brother after his death to his son, with two autograph letters; a magnificent copy of “Lysons’s splendid work”. (Lowndes). "Only 200 copies of the whole Work have been printed off, and most of the Plates cancelled; not with the view of making a scarce book, but from the great difficulty of getting even that number properly coloured under the Editor's inspection" (Advertisement to present work). In fact, according to Lysons’ own records 70 copies at most were completed and Colin Franklin (The Book Collector, 2014) notes that one source records only twelve copies completed. This, Lysons' own copy, was last seen at the Jeudwine sale, Bloomsbury, 29 Nov. 1984, lot 370.
The best possible copy of this monument to British antiquarianism. Samuel Lysons was born in Gloucestershire around 1763. A lawyer by training he became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1786 and keeper of the records in the Tower of London in 1803. "A field archaeologist much ahead of his time is revealed by the reports of the sites upon which Lysons worked, such as the Woodchester Roman pavement and other Roman sites, including Horkstow in Lincolnshire, Frampton in Dorset, Bignor in Sussex, and Bath. He was able to illustrate these reports quite lavishly. His greatest publication was the Reliquiae Britannico-Romanae (2 vols., 1801–17), which was a survey of sites and finds in Roman Britain." (Oxford Dictionary of National Biography). Lysons had been very close to his brother Daniel (1762–1834), a fellow antiquary with whom he wrote several books. The book is inscribed by Daniel to his son, also Daniel (1816–1898), who grew to be an energetic and successful army officer. Item #106968
Price: $29,500.00