A Manual of Church Decoration and Symbolism; Containing Directions and Advice to Those Who Desire Worthily to Deck the Church at the Various Seasons of the Year
Oxford and London: A.R. Mowbray & Co., 1899. First edition. Large octavo (10 inches tall), original textured beveled cloth, decorated front board stamped in black, gilt spine. Bookplate, spine toned, gilt bright. A near-fine copy. Item #1180
"YOU HAVE IN YOUR HANDS THE FRUIT OF FIVE-AND-THIRTY YEARS OF MY WORK IN ONE FIELD OF GOD'S FAIR EARTH"
First edition of Ernest Geldart's guide to the symbols and emblems of the Church—in the original decorated binding. Illustrated throughout with a title page decorated in red-and-black and a stunning frontispiece by Percy Bacon.
Geldart "was the most distinguished and prolific of the 'Priestarchitects' who flourished in the nineteenth century. A High Churchman, he combined his clerical career with that of architect, mostly but not exclusively of ecclesiastical buildings, and was particularly known as an expert on church furnishing and decoration" (James Bettley).
Then Rector of Little Braxted, Geldart prepared this practical guide to church decoration as the successor to the Art of Garnishing Churches at Christmas (1882). The work consists of 26 chapters, divided into two sections: Part I. Of Decorations Generally, and Part II. Of Emblems Generally. Illustrated with a title page decorated in red-and-black and a stunning frontispiece by Percy Bacon: "for the beautiful frontispiece, I am indebted to Mr. Percy Bacon, of the firm of Bacon Brothers...these artists have for years executed all the carved and painted work which I have designed as architect." The 52 plates, numbered I - LII, are supplemented with numerous illustrations in the text.
In the Acknowledgments, Geldart (referring to himself as "a plagiarist and a borrower") credits a list of modern writers on art and architecture (including Husenbeth, Parker, Didron, Mrs. Jameson, and the Camden Society), but "the majority of the drawings are original, and are the result of more than thirty years' study of ancient work at home and abroad." With a Dedication, printed in black letter Latin: "deo omnium visibilium auctori qui oculos et manus mihi dedit opusculum hoc refero" and a brief Preface (referring to the Dedication), "I only offer to you what, in all honesty, I have (on the preceding page) already offered to the Giver of all good work, and the Gracious Receiver of all well-meant labour. Ad te domine levavii oculos." Printed in Oxford by Mowbray & Co, Church Printers. A handsome copy of a beautiful book. Bettley. A Month in the Country: Rev. Ernest Geldart at Kelsale (The Suffolk Institute of Archaeology & History).
Price: $200.00