Richard Blome, c. 1710
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Richard Blome (1635-1705) (editor) To see other Blome prints on our site, use our site search engine. |
Prints from The Gentleman's Recreation in Three Parts depicting nude men engaged in wrestling and hand-to-hand fighting in simplified landscape settings. The prints are dedicated to aristocratic patrons.
The Gentleman's Recreations In Three Parts was comprised of First Part: Introduction to the Liberal Arts, Second Part: Of Horsemanship, Hawking, Hunting.Fowling, Fishing, etc. and Third Part: Laws of the Forest and Game. The first part has 31 plates illustrating liberal arts subjects, 19 of which were oval plates with tables in the center and decorative borders depicting people engaged in activities such as Rhetoric, Logic, Astronomy, Astrology, Cosmography, Navigation and Geography. The second part includes 50 copperplate engravings on horses and different types of hunting activities, including shooting, fishing and falconry.
Richard Blome was among the most active publishers of cartographic and illustrated books in late 17th-century London . He was the first publisher in England for 40 years to prepare a new folio world atlas, the first in over 60 years to publish a new set of folio county maps, the first to seriously plan an illustrated description of London, and the first to plan a series of volumes related to the various world continents. In the 1680s, Blome issued some illustrated books, including The Gentleman's Recreation, The History of The Old Testament and a three-volume translation of the works of French philosopher Rene Descartes.
Condition: Generally very good, with the usual light toning, soiling, soft creases.
References:
Schwerdt 72. Mellon 48.