About this Item
Folio (47 x 31.5cm). Publisher's original pictorial sage cloth with decorative titles and allegorical figure in raised relief to the upper board in black, silver, and gilt. Decorative endpapers with Art Nouveau design in gilt. The contents comprising the title page, introductory leaf, and 60 photogravure portraits mounted on thick card pages on linen stubs, all except six preceded by a leaf of biographical text in the language of the subject (the majority being in English, with a few in German or French). A very good copy, the binding with a little cracking to the front hinge (although remaining firm), a 2cm nick to the foot of the upper joint, a little wear to the spine ends, a few minor marks, and some scratches to the lower board. The contents with a few tears and little lifting to the front pastedown, one plate slightly loose, a 12cm tear to the blank margin at the gutter of one text page, occasional minor offsetting from the photogravures to the blank facing pages, and some light scattered foxing (not affecting the photographs) are otherwise in very good order. The photogravures themselves remain clean and sharp. An uncommon and rather grand photobook depicting the 'great men' (and two women, excluding royals) of science, philosophy, and politics at the dawn of the twentieth century in a series of striking photogravure plates by the noted German photographer Adolf Eckstein (1842-1904), with text by Dr. Anton Mansch. These books were apparently made up of differing plates copy to copy, depending on the purchaser's predilections. The present copy, apparently destined for an English customer with more of an interest in science (with only three artists and one actress included), begins with four portraits of the British royal family, followed by portraits of British and European scientists, thinkers, and politicians: Sir William Reynell Anson, The Rt. Hon. Herbert Henry Asquith, The Rt. Hon. Arthur James Balfour, Archibald Carr, William Bateson, Dr. Heinrich August Bernthsen, Reginald Arthur Berry, Alexander Crum Brown, The Rt. Hon. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, The Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, Sir George Howard Darwin, Francis Darwin, Harold Baily Dixon, Alfred East, Dr. Hermann Emil Fischer, James Geikie, Joseph Reynolds Green, Ernst Haeckel, Dr. Johannes Hansen, G. G. Henderson, Charles Thomas Heycock, Ingenieur Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff, Dr. Karl B. Hofmann, John Martin Munro Kerr, Dr. Robert Koch, Lord Lister, David Lloyd George, Sir Donald Macalister, Hector Munro Macdonald, Sir Patrick Manson, Alfred Marshall, Henri Moissan, Fridtjof Nansen, William Odling, Louis Pasteur, William Henry Perkin, William Jackson Pope, Sir Edward John Poynter, Sir William Ramsay, Gabrielle Réjane, The Rt. Hon. Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe, John Singer Sargent, George Adam Smith, William Somerville, Dr. Ernst Schulze, Julius Stoklasa, Joseph John Thomson, Sir William A. Tilden, Sir William Turner, Dr. Jules Ville, Sydney Howard Vines, and German Sims Woodhead. NOTE: This is a heavy item which may require additional shipping costs for overseas customers. Seller Inventory # 1360
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