WHITTOCK, Nathaniel. The Art of Drawing and Colouring from Nature; Flowers, Fruit, and Shells to which is Added, Correct Directions for Preparing the Most Brilliant colours for Painting on Velvet, with the Mode of Using Them; also, the New Method of Orie…

Rare Drawing Manual with Plates in Two States

WHITTOCK, Nathaniel. The Art of Drawing and Colouring from Nature; Flowers, Fruit, and Shells to which is Added, Correct Directions for Preparing the Most Brilliant colours for Painting on Velvet, with the Mode of Using Them; also, the New Method of Oriental Tinting. London: Isaac Taylor Hinton. 1829.

4to. Contemporary half calf with marbled sides, sometime rebacked with original spine laid on, spine with gilt floral tools and two black morocco gilt lettering pieces, marbled endpapers; pp. [4], 96, [48] leaves of plates (24 plates, each in two states, hand-coloured and uncoloured); spine and extremities lightly rubbed, slight fading to gilt tooling; internally generally clean, some offsetting to plate XXI and light pencil marks to plate XXII; very good.

First edition of this uncommon drawing manual, with each of the plates issued in two states, hand-coloured and uncoloured, by Nathaniel Whittock, ‘one of the first to publish lithograph illustrations systematically coloured by hand’ (Abbey).

Whittock (1791–1860) is now best known as a topographical engraver producing bird’s-eye views of cities including London, Oxford, York, and Melbourne in the 1830s–50s. In 1829, when this book was published, he had recently moved on from being ‘Teacher of Drawing and Perspective, and Lithographist to the University of Oxford’, where he also worked with the Ashmolean Museum and in scientific circles, to establish himself in north London as a society drawing master.

The first twenty lessons in this book are devoted to the drawing and colouring of specimens as varied as the humble apple blossom, the exotic passion flower, grapes, and assorted molluscs. The final four cover more general artistic topics, including the use of velvet as the best surface for botanical illustration and the use of stencils on soft paper. Each subject is illustrated with paired plates, one hand-coloured to demonstrate the finished effect and one uncoloured to emphasise draughtsmanship.

Whittock’s book is a particularly attractive example of a popular type of early nineteenth-century instructional drawing manual combining natural history and practical instruction, and was followed a year later by another volume on birds, mammals and insects. After this short period, he increasingly concentrated on the cityscapes on which his reputation rests, so this work represents his most important contribution to botanical art.

We find only five copies in the UK (NLS, Newcastle, Royal Horticultural Society, V&A, and Edinburgh).

Nissen BBI 2138.

SKU: 2124912