COLOR PRINTING., WALPOLE, HORACE. 1717-1797.

Jeffery's Edition of the Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story. London: Cooper and Graham, 1796.

WALPOLE, HORACE. 1717-1797. Jeffery's Edition of the Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story. London: Cooper and Graham, 1796.
8vo (195 x 122 mm). 7 color printed wood-engraved plates with gilt ornamental borders. 19th century diced calf, ruled in gilt, with gilt rosettes and black morocco lettering piece on spine, marbled endpapers. Corners of spine repaired, wear to covers, scattered browning and spotting.
Provenance: Sir James Colquhoun of Luss (armorial bookplate).

FIRST COLORED EDITION of Walpole's classic, first published in 1764. This edition includes wood-engraved illustrations printed in color in a single pressing by painting the colors onto the block. The plates were borrowed from the 1795 Italian edition translated by Sivrac, with gold borders added to cover the Italian legends. "While this book was no doubt intended for a gentleman or a lady reader, a book with color plates no longer needed to be a folio show-piece" (Friedman, Color Printing in England 28). Brunet V:1407; Hazen p 65; McLean p 33; Summers p 264.