John Rutter Lot n° 35

Wiltshire.- Rutter (John) Delineations of Fonthill and its Abbey, first edition, large paper copy, half-title, hand-coloured aquatint frontispiece, additional pictorial title and plate, 10 engraved plates including unnumbered plate of South West View (as usual), large folding lithographed plan hand-coloured in outline, wood-engraved vignettes, double-page genealogical table and list of subscribers at end, foxing to some plates, handsome contemporary olive green straight-grain morocco cathedral binding with elaborate borders tooled in gilt, spine gilt in compartments, inner gilt dentelles, pale pink moiré silk endpapers with gilt-tooled border, g.e., a little rubbed, upper joint neatly repaired, [Abbey, Scenery 418], (340 x 275mm.), Shaftesbury, by the Author, 1823; A Description of Fonthill Abbey and Demesne, fifth edition, engraved frontispiece, advertisement for 'Delineations...' at beginning, original printed wrappers, rubbed, lacking spine, Shaftesbury, by the author, 1822, 4to & 8vo (2) ⁂ Account of Beckford's extraordinary Gothic mansion designed by James Wyatt. The construction was rushed and the huge tower collapsed several times. Beckford was forced to sell the property and most of its contents in 1822 due to financial constraints and the majority of the building was demolished in 1825.