Descriptive Catalogue of a collection of devices and mottos english, french, and italian, from Engraved Seals, formed in composition paste, and sold by william tassie, leicester-square.
London.
Printed by William Bulmer and Co., 1816.
First edition.
12mo.
[8], 43pp, [1]. With a half-title. Original publisher's printed powder blue paper boards, recently rebacked in black cloth. Ink-stamp of the Birmingham Assay Office to front blank fly-leaf, later inked gift inscription and annotation to half-title, manuscript numerals to REP, occasional paper repairs to gutter margins, scattered spotting.
The first catalogue of the engraved seals available for purchase from the London workshop of modeller William Tassie (1777-1860).
Primarily a manufacturer of impressions of intaglio gems and of glass paste portrait cameos, Tassie expanded his wares to incorporate seals inscribed with sentimental mottos having inherited the business from his uncle in 1799. Tassie expanded his uncle's collection of glass casts after engraved gems, so that his collection of impressions eventually exceeded 20,000. A second edition of the catalogue appeared in 1820 and a third 1830.
The Birmingham Assay Office, one of the four assay offices in the United Kingdom, was founded in 1773 and to this day remains responsible for testing the purity of precious metals and issuing hallmarks of certification.
OCLC and COPAC together record copies at just seven locations (Birmingham, Bryn Mawr, Harvard, NLS, NYPL, Rakow Research Library, and V&A).
£ 750.00
Antiquates Ref: 30905
Primarily a manufacturer of impressions of intaglio gems and of glass paste portrait cameos, Tassie expanded his wares to incorporate seals inscribed with sentimental mottos having inherited the business from his uncle in 1799. Tassie expanded his uncle's collection of glass casts after engraved gems, so that his collection of impressions eventually exceeded 20,000. A second edition of the catalogue appeared in 1820 and a third 1830.
The Birmingham Assay Office, one of the four assay offices in the United Kingdom, was founded in 1773 and to this day remains responsible for testing the purity of precious metals and issuing hallmarks of certification.
OCLC and COPAC together record copies at just seven locations (Birmingham, Bryn Mawr, Harvard, NLS, NYPL, Rakow Research Library, and V&A).
