Willement, Thomas
A concise account of the principal works in stained glass that have been executed by Thomas Willement.
(London ?), printed for private circulation 1840.
Full Description
4to. Engraved frontispiece, 75 + (1)pp. Recent paper boards, cloth spine, all edges gilt. Ink presentation inscription from Thomas Willement to Dawson Turner on half title leaf.
A very scarce privately printed volume recording the principal commissions for stained glass windows executed by the decorator and stained glass artist Thomas Willement (1786-1871) between 1812 and 1840. About half of these were commissions for stained glass windows not for churches but for the halls, libraries and other large reception rooms of country houses, and it is possible to reconstruct from this volume an extensive list of Willement’s clients among the aristocracy and landed gentry. More unexpected commissions include “an ornamental compartment in the style of James I” for the window of the breakfast room of the private residence of Thomas Combe at the University Press, Oxford, two commissions for windows for the Toxophilite Lodge in Regent’s Park, and two commissions for windows in churches in Barbados. The present copy, which has a presentation inscription from Willement to the antiquary, botanist and book collector Dawson Turner (1775-1858), is supposed to have been one of only 75 copies printed. Curiously, it is the second copy of this title that we acquired over a short period of time (our previous copy, Sir Howard Colvin’s, was without a presentation inscription, but was in its original binding), but we had not previously had a copy through our hands, and the book is certainly hard to find in the book trade. Not in BAL Cat.