The History of the Royal Residences of Windsor Castle, St. James's Palace, Carlton House, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court, Buckingham House, and Frogmore - William Henry Pyne 1819 - Printed for A. Dry, London - First Edition A beautiful and luxurious first edition of one of the most ambitious aquatint books to be published on English interiors. Three finely bound volumes containing one hundred exquisite hand-coloured plates with accompanying text.

This celebrated work was the first to illustrate royal palaces and houses in any detail: volume I is a valuable record of the state rooms of Windsor Castle formed for Charles II, and concludes with the more domestic scenes of Frogmore, purchased by Queen Charlotte as a country retreat in 1793; volume II is devoted to Hampton Court, Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace; volume III's subjects are St James's Palace and Carlton House; the twenty plates devoted to the Prince Regent's residence depict what were regarded as the most spectacular interiors in Regency London.
  The illustrations include fifty-nine plates after C. Wild, twenty-five after J. Stephanoff, nine after R. Cattermole, six after W. Westall, and one after G. Samuel, of which thirty-six are engraved by T. Sutherland, twenty-three by W.J. Bennett, twenty-eight by R. Reeve, eleven by D. Havell, and two by J. Bailey. Uncoloured wood-engraved vignette on last page of Volume I. Text watermarked 1817.

William Henry Pyne (1769-1843) was one of the most important collaborators with the prominent British publisher and pioneer of lithography, Rudolph Ackermann. Pyne "became connected with Ackermann about 1803, and came by degrees to occupy himself more with writing than painting, providing the text or part of it for many of Ackermann's publications. It is not perhaps surprising that, being himself designer, painter, engraver and author, he should become enamoured of book production.

Pyne had been engaged by Ackermann to write the text of the Microcosm of London in 1808 and working on that book gave him the idea of writing and publishing a similar picture-book of architectural exteriors and interiors. This set of plates could not hope to equal the popularity of Ackermann's Microcosm since there could only be a limited public for a series consisting chiefly of well-upholstered palace interiors peopled only by the occasional decorous gentleman or lady-in-waiting. Pyne's solution was to publish it at twice the price of the Microcosm knowing that it would still sell to its intended market of the court circle and the wealthy bourgeoisie.

Its interest today lies in its careful drawing of vanished or altered interiors and furnishings and objects of art since dispersed, particularly of Buckingham Palace apartments before Nash's alterations of 1825. The description and twenty-four plates of Carlton House, London home of the Prince Regent (later George IV) are of particular interest, as the structure was demolished in 1826. At the end of the second volume is a list of portraits in the royal collections described in the text.

Although the work was successful, it involved Pyne in serious financial difficulties, and he was more than once confined for debt in the King's Bench Prison. Pyne, a noted artist and engraver in his own right, only supplied the text for this work.

References: Abbey,
Scenery, 396. Martin Hardie 304. Prideaux 348. Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England From 1790 to 1914 42. Tooley, English Books with Coloured Plates 1790 to 1860 (1954), 389.

Three folio volumes (binding size ), pp. [8] ii [2] 188 [1] 21 [5]; [10] 80 [2] 92 [16 (lists of portraits and plates)] [4]; [10] 88 [2] 28 [2] 88 [4].

[5] ii 88 [1] 28 [1] 88;
[5] 80 [1] 92 16. .
  Finely bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe in burgundy morocco, spines with single gilt filet bordered compartments and gilt lettering, boards with twin filet gilt borders, gilt ruled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.   Condition: Fine, but for some light offsetting and spotting to some tissue guards and text opposite plates, plate opposite page 83 with small mark, in fine bindings.   Ref: 111712   Price: HK$ 80,000