TWO 1816 VOLUMES: WOODBURN'S GALLERY OF RARE PORTRAITS

A rare First 4to (quarto) Edition pair of Antiquarian Volumes "consisting of Original Plates of 16th, 17th, and 18th Century engravers, with facsimile copies from the rarest and most curious Portraits illustrative of Granger's Biographical History of England, Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, Burnet's History of His Own Time, Pennants London, etc., etc., and containing 200 Portraits of Celebrated and noted persons"; the stated price of Fifteen Guineas, a tidy sum at the time and would represent what a skilled workman would earn in about 4 months! Samuel Woodburn (1783-1853) was a prominent collector and dealer in important and historic drawings and pictures; it is acknowledged that "this extraordinary and fine collection was his Tour de Force"; names associated with this work include Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, Rt. Hon. Earl Spencer, K.G., Simon van de Passe, William Fuller Maitland, Library of Congress, Getty Museum, The British Museum, the latter indicating the importance attributed to this work

There is an interesting detail of provenance attributed to these volumes which display an Ex Libris bookplate of Alexander Meyrick Broadley (1847-1916) with Coat of Arms and date 1895 as well as the latter's residence, The Knapp, Bradpole; Broadley was a British barrister, author, company promoter, and social figure, best known for being the defence lawyer (due to his knowledge of Muslim Law) for Ahmed Urabi Pasha after the failure of the Urabi Revolt of 1879 and brief Prime Minster of Egypt in 1882, following the invasion of the British in 1882 and put on trial in Cairo for insurrection; Broadley forced a compromise which enabled Urabi and his followers to be sent as pensioners to Colombo, Ceylon; For this, Broadley was paid 10,000 Guineas and henceforth became known as Broadley Pasha by friends, press, and English society; the volumes are presented in quarto format with original boards and gold embossing, lettering and designs, showing some wear from use, but plates and portraits in very good to excellent condition with minimal foxing and a few of the original 200 missing