The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1897-12-15
COSTLY PLATES.
An Original Set of Boy.
dells Gallery Finds It's
Way to Newark.
NEWS FOR SaAKESpEAREAE STUDENTS
Something About This Historical
Work, and a Little About
Bookbiuding.

Works and a Llillo AD0ut
Bookbinding.
Had it been generally known among
bookloyers, and particularly among that
| sect devoted to the worship of Shakes
periana. says the Newark Sunday Cali
that there~has been in this city dur
| ing the last few weeks an Original SET
Of the Boydel Shakespearean plates 1t
would nave seriously interfered WITH the
| business of the firm Who had the Tempo
rary keeping of this valuable collection
| Sets of the original Boydell engrav-
ings are sufficiently rare to excite the IN
| terest of every s5hahespearea student and
| collector, and the knowledge that there
was a set of them temporarily sojourning
in this city would have sent emparfass-
ing throngs OF bibiiophiles to the book
bindery of William Koch, at 81 New Jer-
| sew Railroad avenue, where the precious
gems OF art reposed. There are many
high-priced reprints and Photographic
| copies OF this mastery work in this coun-
try, but of the original sets there are very
few,here. 1t is only when some line ola
library one the continent goes to the auc-
ton ROOM, u Wllcil OAA F0SoN+NtN
spendthrlft heir decides to distribute the
| books collected by his ancestors that a
copy of the famous original prints finds
its way to this country. A wealthy biblie-
phiie Of Rochester, N. Y, recently for
warded a set of the Boydell Shakesperian
prints TO William Koch's bindery to have
them incased in covers worthy of their
great beauty and value. 1t may seem
~ ---,a +1a+ C,1o n UA11Ie hlp
work should be sent through New York
20 & Newark bookbindery, but then 1t
must be remembered that Mr.. Koch's
| reputation as a high-class binder is well
known in the book world, even though he
IS not SO freely advertised as some infer
Tor bookbinders in the great metropolis.
Suffice to say that when the costly Ell
cravings were returned to their owner the
other day it was in a casing worthy OF the
contents. There were 50 plates in the set,
each one 30x22 inches in size. Most OF
| these pictures are over a entur old, and
their age was attested by the ivory nue.
the once white paper has assumed. In the
last 80 years the plates have been handed
by hundreds of hands, some of them On
worthy and unappreeiative, ana the result SUI
was that in some instances the paper was
cracked or torn. 1t was a sunday cam
reporters great pleasure to see these
plates when they arrived. and he was Civ,
en- another view when they We're incased
i'll their rich and artistic binding. a new
backing OF limp paper was given TO every
and adding to their durability. !.
The cover provided by Mr.. Koch IS OF
full morocco, with hand tooling Of rococo
design. The inside cover Is also nan n
large book is a splendid example OF the
binders highest art.
A short history OF Mr. BoyGell ana MS
| e~ngravings may not be amiss here.-
The story of the Boydell Shakespeare
while it is well known to the limited few
who are delivers in Shakespeareana, is
| man to whom all Shakespearean scholars
| bow in lowly reverence, was born in lll9
| at Darlington, England. He was a nd
eral patron of the fine arts in his young
| er days. and tthe GROWING achievement of
his life. also the one which caused him
| financial ruin, was the accomplishment of
his grand scheme of illustrating Shakes
peara by the greatest living artists. He.
| was an old man when he conceived the
idea and he barely lived to see Il carried
out. In November Of l7S6 he gathered at
tive men of the world of arts and letters
and unfolded to them his plan of illustrat-
ing Shakespeare's plays on a grand scale.
He was then sixty-seven years OLD, r1ch IN
this worlds goods, and ripe with many
honors. He explained his plan to the
| gentlemen present and all of them agreed
J11I TIE lled WdS I1td6 iikiICIl, III x
| few of them doubted whether it could be
| successfully accomplished. He suggested
a great gallery of historical paintings;
The plan met with what might be called
| popular approval. It did not require
much time to get the one thousand sub
| scribers necessary at forty gulneas each.
The prospectus said that It would take
about twelve years to complete the whole
| work. ssExcellence is more aimed at in
| this undertaking than Dispatch says the
prospectus. One of the first artists APP
49, - x-a tha orrnot Sir 1nG1l1n- Paw
nolds, first president of the Royal Acad-
envy. He at first ~demurred, alleging that
it was beneath his dignity to enter into a
speculative scheme, but he evidently re-
considered the matter. 1t is said that a
| fine hundred pound note, judiciously prof
fered, had much to do with this. To this
the world owes that sublime picture of
Macbeth, which has not been equaled by
any artist since. Invitations We're sent to
| artists throughout Great Britain to com
| pete for the privilege of appearing in this
every design received, whether accepted
or not. and a prize of a hundred glineas
| was given for each accepted picture. The
nation. and formed the chief topic in So
ciety and literature. The first number of
the e~ngrdvings made from the paintings
was issued in 1890, and the subsequent
| numbers appeared at intervals of about
six months until 1904. They were pub
Flished complete in two volumes, atlas
folio. The title page of the work bears
the date 1903, but the last plates We're pub
fshed on December /, 1904, and the pre-
face. by Josiah Boydell. was dated March
Is, 1926. Josiah Boydell, It might be re-
marked in passing, was a nephew of the
originator of this grand work and their
| names were generally coupled as the pub
fishers. The work, when completed. was
published at sixty guineas. This gallery
of pictures had cost upward of G30,0 600.
while the edition of Shakespeare incurred
an outlay Of $50, 900 more.
+ The elder Boydell became financially
ruined. and it was mostly due to his great
undertaking, though the French revolt
ton and continental wars also had much
to do with it, for they cut Off his large
income from other countries. The con-
dition of the venerable Boydell at this
| time is best explained by this paragraph
from a letter written after his failure, to
| a friend;-
Il hope you, my dear sir, and every
honest man at any age, will feel for my
anxiety to discharge by debts; but at my
| advanced age of So | feel that it becomes
doubly desirable" He applied to Parlia-
ment to obtain permission to dispose
of his gallery by lottery, and it was given.
The lottery consisted OF 22:000 tickets, and
in II few months they were all disposed of.
Every ticket was old and all his debts
were discharged, and John Boydell died
on December IL, 1864.
Tho lottery tickets were sold at three
auineas each; there were sixty prizes and
each person not drawing a prize was en-
titled to one guinea's worth of prints, Sc
lected from the general s~toclt-of the Boy