The Sermon on the Mount; Printed for Edward L. and Estelle Doheny by John Henry Nash
San Francisco: John Henry Nash, 1921. Portfolio. Single sheet of thick watermarked ivory paper (38 by 20 3/4 inches), folded in quarters and printed on two panels, unbound and housed in floral decorated cloth boards (19 1/8 by 10 5/8 inches). About Fine. Item #1734
"THE SIMPLE WORDS OF JESUS CHRIST AS TOLD BY HIS DISCIPLE ST. MATTHEW"
Extraordinary broadside printing of The Sermon on the Mount by the great John Henry Nash of San Francisco—printed for the California oil man Edward L. Doheny and his wife Estelle Doheny, one of the great American bibliophiles.
The Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Matthew begins with the Beatitudes, the simplest teachings of Jesus Christ at the very heart of the Gospels. Printed in four columns with elaborate gilt borders, the Gothic text is illustrated with three historiated initials and a large panorama across the top, all hand-colored. The first column is headed: "The Sermon of the Mount: the simple words of Jesus Christ as told to his disciple, St. Matthew." Printed on a single sheet which opens flat to a red-ruled broadside (19 by 21 inches) which can be matted and framed.
Preceded with a note: "Printed for Edward L. and Estelle Doheny by John Henry Nash of San Francisco." A devout Catholic as well as a reknowned collector, Estelle Doheny "had a special affinity for the Vincentians and Daughters of Charity, orders of religious men and women formed around the charism of St. Vincent de Paul. During their thirty-five-year union, the Dohenys would fund the construction of a church and hospital in the name of this saint. In early 1939, Carrie Estelle was elevated to the rank of Papal Countess by Pope Pius XII." Mrs. Doheny died in October 1958 and "in 1983, 25 years after her death, her gift to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles became unrestricted and was liquidated. During the two years of auctions in New York, London, and Paris, her collection at the Edward Laurence Doheny Memorial Library ultimately realized upwards of $34 million." Nash printed The Sermon on the Mount several times in the 1920's. This copy is not dated, but does not match either the 1920 or 1921 editions (both of which are booklets not broadsides).
Price: $200.00