Estampes

1877 · biblio359 — London dec.29 1877. Fine. Sue. <p>Chomolithography 265x395mm original proof impression<br /> <em>“The second versions of the Vanity Fair caricatures are the proof prints or proofs before lettering First versions are the original watercolors; third versions are the widely available weekly/album prints  Produced to verify the colours and lines of the lithograph no more than twenty copies were printed </em><strong>Not true many more than that</strong><em> These prints have no captions or dates or other descriptive type and the magazine bound them in numbered albums in green leather with gilt tooling They were offered for sale and also awarded as prizes in the magazine’s acrostic contests At the front of each volume is a printed note from Vanity Fair giving the number of the proof volume and the numbered volume in the series </em><strong>However these volumes were "broken" to sell individually and one never sees the complete volume </strong><em>The quality of the colours in the proof prints their clarity of line and detail and their scarcity make them of considerable interest to the collectorâ€<br /> <br /> </em>Roy T Matthews and Peter Mellini <em>In “Vanity Fairâ€</em> Berkeley: University of California Press 1982 203</p> hardcover