First edition, 4to, 28pp., 292 plates, black and white and sepia-tone, from paintings, etc., executed by MM. Braun, Clement & Co, Paris and Dornach, marbled endpapers, cont. half morocco, t.e.g. uncut, lightly rubbed otherwise a very nice copy. Approximately 150 artists are represented from the schools of Giotto, Pollajuolo, Florentine 15th Century, Perugino, Lombard School 15th Century, Parmigiano, North Italian, Venetian School 18th Century, Rembrandt, the Dutch School, Flemish School, Early German, etc. Charles Fairfax Murray is believed to have received early art training from Richard Gainsborough Dupont, became a protege of John Ruskin, and joined Edward Burne-Jones as a studio assistant. Soon he was also assisting William Morris and Rosetti. While in Italy, as an agent for the Director of the National Gallery and other private collectors, Murray built his own Italian Old Master collection. He returned to England and resumed his friendships with Burne-Jones, William Morris, and their circle in the Arts & Crafts Movement. He also developed great American art collections, described by Lockett Agnew as "the finest judge of art in the world." Later, in 1909, having bought and sold several lots of rare books and collections to museums and galleries, he made his major sale -- his personal collection of 1400 Old Master drawings, to American banker John Pierpont Morgan for a sum almost equivalent to 3,000,000 pounds today.
