The Engraved Gems of the Greeks Etruscans and Romans. Part I & II. Engraved Gems of the Greeks and the Etruscans + Engraved Gems of the Romans, 2 Vols.
London: Phaidon Press, 1968, 1971. First edition. Hardcover. Folio. xii, (695, 876 gems), ix [i], 307pp., (783 gems). Original beige cloth with gilt-stamped and brown emblem on cover, gilt lettering and ruling on spine; first volume w/o dustjacket, second in original green illustrated dustjacket, black lettering on spine. Publisher's device on half-title. Title page printed in red and black.
"The immediate incentive to write a general, comprehensive account of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman engraved gems was a recent review of my Catalogue of Engrave Gems of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1956), by Victor Tournier (in the Belgian periodical Phoibos, 1964, p. 125). In it - after criticizing me for only illustrating the gems in enlarged views taken from the impression - he said that this catalogue was the 'meilleur instrument de tavail pout les archéologues qui veulent s'initier à la connaissance des pierres gravées antiques'. Knowing full well that my book, being merely a descriptive catalogue of a single collection, was an inadequate introduction to this vast and complicated subject, Mr. Tournier's kind remark made me realize that an up-to-date general treatment of the subject did not exist and was needed. (Preface Vol. I). Volume one with two pages of gems reproduced in color and in-text engravings, containing directions for the use of the book.
"This second volume of The Engraved Gems of the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans illustrates in about 780 selected examples the varying styles and subjects used first in the Roman Republican period of the third, second and earlier first century B.C., and then in the early and late Imperial period. It is a vast subject of great interest both from the historical and from the human point of view. For these gems are contemporary with the growth of Italy from a relatively small community to a great empire, and since most of them were private possessions, they also show us the preferences of individual Romans in choosing the subjects for their seal-stones and ornaments." (Publisher).
Reproductions of gems in collotype, two pages in offset color reproductions. Both volumes with bibliography, sources of the photographs, and indices of collections, subjects, and indices of persons and places. Vol. 1 with light wear along edges, light bumps and lightly rubbed. Vol. 2 with very light wear along edges of dustjacket, minor chips and one small closed tear. Block slightly age-toned. Very good to near fine condition. Item #54474
Price: $350.00