Entrée principale:

Page, John, active 1834-1849?

Titre et auteur:

Guide for drawing the acanthus, and every description of ornamental foliage; By I. Page ...

Publication:

London: Ackerman [sic] ... Berger ... Drake ... Birmingham; Zanetti ... Manchester, 1840.

Description:

xi, [1], 264 pages, [58] plates : illustrations (wd-engr.) ; 17.3 cm (12)̲

Notes:
Published in parts during 1839 and 1840 (see Notes below). The imprint of 'I. Page, Atlas Press ... ' appears on the verso of the title-leaf and on the second titlepage. See Addenda and Corrigenda.
Signature: 12:̲ {PN}{OCLCbrCB}{PF}A⁶ A-C{PN}12{PF} D-E⁶ F-G{PN}12{PF} H⁶ I-L{PN}12{PF} M⁶ N{PN}12{PF}. [138 leaves] $1-2, 5 signed ( -{PN}{OCLCbrCB}{PF}A1,5, A1, D5, E5, F1, G5, H5, M5; +{PN}{OCLCbrCB}{PF}A3, B3, C4, D3, E3, H3, M3).
: This work was originally published in 13 or 14 parts, each containing one gathering of text. A copy at the Bodleian Library (17014 e.1) consists of the first ten parts, in the original paper wrappers which bear the title 'History And Guide For Drawing The Acanthus ... ', as does the titlepage on A1a, which was issued with the first part. This part was probably published in late 1839, and bears the imprint of Page's own Atlas Press and of George Berger of Holywell Street. The second part probably appeared in early 1840, with a note on the lower wrapper acknowledging 'the unexpected success' of the first part. Copies were sent for review to a number of journals, including The Mirror, The Art-Union and The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal. This last noticed the work favourably in its April 1840 number (p.130) as 'Guide To Ornamental Drawing and Design. By J. Page. London Berger, 1840, Parts 1 and 2 ... ', going on to commend the work for its utility and low price. The third part bears an advertisement on the lower wrapper for the 'Society For Promoting Practical Design ... ' at Saville House, Leicester Square, where Page taught ornamental design (see below). The fourth part was the first to contain plates, and thereafter each part contained five, six or seven separate etchings or wood-engravings. Part 6 has advertisements on the lower wrapper, including one reading 'On the 1st of December will be Published, No. 1, price 1s. on 8vo. Demy, I. Page's Ornamental And Useful Designs ... '. Each part of this work was to contain eight plates, and the reference is almost certainly to Page's decorator, which seems to have been published by Ackermann between 1840 and around 1843 (No. 2358). Parts 7 and 8 were published without incident, but when part 9 appeared it contained a printed note 'To Subscribers.' in which Page apologises for the delay in publication of this number which 'has been occasioned by his severe indisposition'. The note continues 'In consequence of the increased demand for Elizabethan, Nos. 10 and 11, will be entirely confined to that department ... '. Part 10 is the last held by the Bodleian, but it is clear that at least three further parts were published. A fourteenth part may have contained the preliminary gathering described above (with the titlepage bearing Ackermann's imprint dated 1840 and various quotations from reviews of the publication), or these leaves may have been issued with the thirteenth part. The first gathering also contains a preface, in which the author notes that 'The object of this work occurred to me about five years ago ... and the principles laid down in this work has [sic] since been duly appreciated, both by connoisseurs and amateurs ... ' (p.x). The preliminary gathering, although bearing several publishers' names, was also printed by Page at his Atlas Press. Another issue of this work was published with the undated imprint of Atchley and Company, and is probably slightly later than the issue described above (see Spelman 15:29, describing the coloured plates as chromolithographs). The NUC also lists an edition published by Atchley and Company in 1850, which is almost certainly another issue of the same sheets (see also UCBA which records an edition dated 1850). A new edition was published by Bernard Quaritch in 1886.! %tThe work is interesting for being almost entirely the work of one pair of hands, with the text and designs being composed by Page, and the plates and text printed by him. One of the presses owned by the author was clearly a Columbian manufactured by Mooney and Finn, since the lower wrapper of part 9 bears a testimonial in which Page praises the 'New Double Crown Columbian Press ... ' with which the manufacturer had furnished him. Page also mentions 'my men' in the same testimonial, so it is clear that he employed a number of professional compositors and/or press-men (see below). The plates betray a certain amount of experimentation in their production. Page seems to have started by producing full-page wood-engravings, which were printed with the letterpress in parts 1-3. Then he experimented with the etching process, as well as producing further wood-engraved plates, this time printed separately from the text, sometimes using more than one colour. Plate [69] represents an etching with simple aquatint shading added. Page also seems in one instance to have tried engraving, for plate [55], which shows various decorative designs all incorporating Neptune, tritons and hippocamps (see Plates above).! %tThe Christian name of 'I. Page' is uncertain, and he is identified variously as 'James' and 'John'. The former name appears to be based on an entry in Samuel Austin Allibone's Critical dictionary of English literature (3 vols, Philadelphia and London, 1859-1871), which identifies the author as James and attributes a number of works to him; as well as the present title and Page's decorator (No. 2358), there is the third edition of the 'Fractional calculator' (1851) and the first number of The Cabinet-Makers' and Upholsterers' Journal. The author of the fractional calculator has not been traced, but the Journal is certainly by the same man, and was published in November 1842 from his last known London address at the Atlas Press, 12, Little Wild Street. The Bodleian catalogue attributes this work to a 'John Page, cabinet-maker', who is there identified as a different man from the present author. Allibone does not give a source for his form of the name, although there is no firm evidence to prove him wrong. However, it seems more likely that the author of all these works is the John Page who is recorded as a printer at Marsham Street in Westminster from 1838 to 1840, at 1 Horseferry Road from 1839 to 1841, and at 150 Drury Lane and 12 Little Wild Street in 1842 (see Todd, Directory). As well as being a professional printer, Page taught at Benjamin Haydon's school of design, set up in 1838 at Saville House, Leicester Square, in competition with the School of Design at Somerset House (see Quentin Bell, The schools of design (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963, pp. 74 and 157)). Haydon's school closed in 1842, and it is tempting to speculate that Page may then have moved to Ipswich, since a printer of the same name is recorded there in 1843. The Cabinet-Makers' and Upholsterers' Journal did not progress beyond its first number, and Page's decorator, which is advertised on the wrappers of part 6 of the present title, may not have been completed until 1843, when the imprint used on the cover label was first recorded; this publication, although attributed to Page as designer, does not include his name as printer, which may be further evidence of his departure from London at this time (see No. 2358). The earliest traced reference to Page is as the designer of some of the scrolling ornaments shown in the plates of Knight's unique fancy ornaments (1834; q.v. in the Supplement).

Sujet:

Decoration and ornament Plant forms.
Architecture Details.
Décoration et ornement Motifs végétaux.
Architecture Détails.
floral patterns.
Decoration Art technique Drawing technique Great Britain

Exemplaires:

Localisation: Bibliothèque main y 97561
Cote: 0000320
Statut: Disponible