MADDOX, WILLES | LANSDOWN TOWER BATH. 1844

MADDOX, WILLES

VIEWS OF LANSDOWN TOWER, BATH. THE FAVOURITE EDIFICE OF THE LATE WILLIAM BECKFORD ESQR. [BATH: EDMUND ENGLISH JUNR. & LONDON: THOMAS MCLEAN, 1844]

FIRST EDITION, SUBSCRIBER'S COPY (see provenance), folio (616 x 443mm.), mounted chromolithographed title with HAND-COLOURED vignette, lithographed dedication with list of plates, list of subscribers, printed slip about Beckford's tomb tipped in, 13 HAND-COLOURED lithographed plates on 12 card mounts, each with pencil caption, 6 tinted lithographs in text, publisher's maroon morocco-backed moire cloth, upper cover titled in gilt, flat spine, contents loose (gutta percha perished), minor spotting to title and endleaves, damp-stain to upper cover

Built between 1826 and 1827, Beckford's Tower, is an extraordinary building that was once home to one of the greatest collections of books, furniture and art in Georgian England and now stands as the only surviving example of William Beckford's great architectural achievements.

The present copy is an early issue without an imprint and year on the chromolithographed title. On the verso of the "To the Reader" leaf (dated October 1st, 1844) is a lithographed facsimile of a letter by William Beckford not mentioned in Abbey. This work was started by Maddox under the patronage of Beckford, who is listed as a subscriber, but Beckford died in May 1844, just five months before this book was published. The plates show exterior and interior views of the tower, together with objects of vertu and ornamental furniture.