John Sell Cotman; Dawson Turner — Architectural Antiquities of Normandy

London, John and Arthur Arch and J. S. Cotman, 1822 . First edition. Leather. The impressive first edition of this beautifully illustrated architectural study of Normandy. With plates from John Sell Cotman, a leading member of the Norwich School of Painters. The very scarce first edition of this work. Complete in two volumes, with both volumes bound in one, with a title page to each volume, and continuous pagination. Illustrated with 100 engravings accross the two volumes, distributed accross 96 plates. Collated, complete. John Sell Cotman produced these drawings from three visits to Normandy, the first with Dawson Turner in 1817 and two in 1818 and 1820. Cotman was an English marine and landscape painter, etcher, illustrator, and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters. Each plate has a contextual description by Dawson Turner. Turner selected the plates for this work himself.  To the preface he notes 'in the descriptive portion of these volumes, attention has been almost exclusively directed to two points, the historical and the architectural.  Locations depicted in the plates include Notre Dame in Rouen, St Sauveur le Viconte, Castle, the Tombstone of Queen Matilda, and more churches in Caen, Montivilliers, Lisieux and Fontaine-Le-Henri. In a half morocco binding, with marbled paper covered boards. Significant rubbing to back strip head and tail, joints, raised bands, and board perimeters. Internally, firmly bound. Pages bright and generally clean, with only the odd handling mark. Very Good . Ill.: John Sell Cotman. Very Good .