1756 'The Heads of Illustrious Persons' Ed. John Knapton
Item Details
A heavy book containing 108 large copper engravings of famous worthies, titled The Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain and published in 1756. This book has a bookplate in the front indicating its ownership by Sir John E. Swinburne (1762-1860), 6th Baronet of Capheaton, and grandfather to the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne.
The 108 beautifully engraved personages in this book are a Who’s Who of English history and include such giants of English literature as Chaucer, Sidney, Shakespeare, Jonson, Milton, Dryden, Pope, Addison and Steele; scientists and philosophers like Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton and John Locke; explorers like Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake; royals like Henry VIII and James I, and such notable historical characters as Thomas Cromwell and Cardinal Wolsey; Civil War revolutionaries like Oliver Cromwell and John Hamden; and many, many more. The figures range in time from the reign of Edward III up until “the present time,’ beginning with Geoffrey Chaucer and ending with Alexander Pope. The title page reads, ‘London: Printed for John Knapton in Ludgate-Street, MDCCLVI, 216 pp.’ The engravings were executed by Jacob Houbraken and George Vertue, with text of the ‘Lives and Characters’ of each illustrated individual by Thomas Birch, D.D., Secretary of the Royal Society.
This is known to be the second edition of the work. Publishers John and Paul Knapton initially began the project of printing engraved ‘heads’ to illustrate a translation of Rapin’s History of England in 1725. (See Yale Library publication, ‘Illustrious Heads,’ in the Links.) The first volume published of the present work in 1743 contained 80 biographies and engravings, after which a second volume was published in 1751 containing 28 more engravings and Lives. The second edition of 1756 (of which the book presently listed is an exemplar) collects all 108 engravings and Lives from the two volumes of the first edition into one lavishly decorated jumbo-sized volume. Each illustration is credited with the source of the image (sometimes mentioning location, or owner, not always the name of the original artist).
This large folio has a full leather binding with elaborate blind-stamped decoration to the front and back boards. The spine features gilt lettering and raised bands with alternating blind-stamped, lettered, and gilt decorated panels, as well as gilt dentelles and blind-stamping to the leather fold-ins, with marbled end papers, and bright, unfaded gilding to the page block.
Of his grandfather John E. Swinburne (a prior owner of this book), Swinburne the poet wrote, ‘He was (of course on the Ultra-Liberal side) one of the most extreme politicians as well as one of the hardest riders and best art patrons of his time. . . . It was said that the two maddest things in the north country were his horse and himself. . . . He was a friend of the great [J.M.W.] Turner, of [William] Mulready, and of many lesser artists’ (Life of Algernon Charles Swinburne by Edmund Gosse; see Links).
Condition
to Fair.
- The boards show numerous surface scratches and edge and corner wear to their exteriors.
- The front hinge shows 4 inch separations at the head and tail, though this hinge remains attached for about a foot along the middle of the hinge.
- The back hinge shows exterior wear but is otherwise in good shape and shows no wear or separation to the interior.
- Pages tightly bound, not loose or falling out. Light foxing along the margins, and some wear to page corners, but otherwise clean and without marks or writing.
Note: Each large copper engraving was counted and compared to those listed in the table of contents. All 108 plates are present and accounted for. Each is printed on its own separate page.
Dimensions
Item #
15CIN491-043
Additional Information
Algernon Charles Swinburne on his grandfather John E. Swinburne, Wikipedia page for John E. Swinburne, "Illustrious Heads: Portrait Prints as History"
