[London]:: Printed By Order Of The Council, By J. Taylor, High Holborn., 1802.
Physical Description
[4], 27, [1] p. 195 mm. (Quarto).
Contents
[T.-p.] - Contents - [Text]; [colophon].
Responsibility Note
The catalogue was compiled at the request of the Council of the Royal Academy by Josiah Taylor, London's leading architectural publisher and bookseller.
Its printer is named in the colophon on p.27 as: 'S. Gosnell, Printer, Little Queen Street, Holborn.'
References
N. Savage, 'The Academicians' library: a selection, not a collection', in Apollo, 128 (1988), p. 258-63, 297; R. Haslam, 'Materials for artists' minds', in Country life (1987 October 29) (a brief overview of the library and archive). A study of an earlier period is J. Bialostocki, 'Doctus Artifex and the library of the artist in the XVIth and XVIIth century', in The message of images: Studies in the history of art (1988), p.150-65, 267-70, and in De arte et libris: Festschrift Erasmus, 1934-1984 (1984), p. 11-22.
Summary Note
This is the first printed catalogue of the Library of The Royal Academy. It is the record of a library built up during the last decades of the eighteenth century (1768-1802) - a library unique in being devoted solely to the fine arts and in being chosen entirely by practising artists. It contributes to our understanding of these artists' own preoccupations and concerns, and of what they regarded as important for their students.
The creation of a library had always been envisaged as a part of the proposal to create in Britain a Royal Academy of Arts. Section XX. of the Instrument of Foundation (1768) reads, 'There shall be a Library of books of architecture, sculpture, painting and all the sciences relating thereto; also prints of bas-reliefs, vases, trophies, ornaments, dresses, ancient and modern customs and ceremonies, instruments of war and arts, utensils of sacrifice, and all other things useful to students in the arts; which library shall be open one day in every week to all Students ... but every Academician shall have free ingress at all seasonable times of the day to consult the books, and to make designs or sketches from them'.
The arrangement of this first catalogue probably reflects the conceptual preferences of its compiler - a bookseller, not an Academician or librarian. It is divided into eight parts: [1] Painting and Sculpture, including Prints from Statues, Basso-rilievos, Pictures, Medals, Gems, Costume, &c; [2] Architecture, Ornaments, Views, Antiquities, and Civil Engineering; [3] Perspective; [4] Mathematics and Mechanics; [5] Anatomy and Natural History; [6] History, Biography, and Travels; [7] Dictionaries, Poetry, Miscellanies; [8] Prints.
A note at the foot of the 'Contents' states, 'A List of the Donors to this Library is kept by the Secretary'.
Further printed catalogues were published in 1821, 1841, 1864, 1877 and 1901. Those of 1802, 1821, 1841 and 1864 include a record of the location of each book; which makes it possible to ascertain not only the content but also the arrangement of the Library at successive dates.
Provenance
A first copy was presumably acquired in 1802 (RAA Council Minutes III, 154-5, for 7 August 1802, record a resolution to pay Mr Taylor, Bookseller, 'for making out a Catalogue, & printing a number ordered, for the use of the Academy & Members'). The present copy however was given to the Academy in 1878 by 'Mr. Wilson' - quite probably C. E. Wilson, who had been appointed Assistant Librarian in December the previous year.
Copy Note
The verso of the title page is inscribed in ink, 'John B. Graham - Jan 1812'.
Binding Note
19th-century half calf, marbled-papered boards, spine lettered 'Catalogue Of The Library In The Royal Academy 1802' and 'R.A.'
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