The British Cabinet containing Portraits of Illustrious Personages: Engraved from Original Pictures with Biographical Memoirs

Very good copy of the first edition, complete with all 50 copperplate engravings

Two volumes bound in one, title page to Vol. 1 only bound in at front

Subjects range from the 15th to the 18th centuries, and include Lady Margaret Beaufort (mother to Henry VII), traitors Thomas Percy and Sir John Hotham, knight in armour Sir George Villiers, judge Sir Henry Martin, Frances Lady Seymour (in bosom-revealing Elizabethan dress), archbishop Richard Stearne, courtier Sir Henry Sidney, politicians Claud Hamilton and Sir Edward Seymour, Henrietta Anne Duchess of Orleans (daughter of Charles I), adventurer Sir Robert Shirley in Persian costume, Lord Chancellor Philip Yorke, and Rachel Russell, Anne Howard, Countess Portland, Lady Seymour, etc., the famous "Petworth Beauties" in decollete dresses.

The portraits taken from paintings by Sir Peter Lely, Jean Charles Nocret, William Nelson Gardiner, Michael Dahl, William Hoare, Arnold Bronckorst, William Larkin, tomb effigies by Nicholas Stone, rare prints, busts and other sources, the majority engraved by Edward Harding, a few by Francesco Bartolozzi, Ignatius Joseph van der Berghe, William Platt, A. Birrell, L. Legoux, etc.

John Adolphus (1768-1845) was an English barrister and historian. He wrote Biographical Memoirs of the French Revolution (1799), the short biographies in British Cabinet (1799), History of England from the accession of George III to the conclusion of Peace in 1783 (1802), The Political State of the British Empire (1824), among others.

Edward Harding (1755-1840) was an English engraver and publisher. Originally a hairdresser, he followed his older brother Sylvester into the art world around 1792. They published prints together until 1796, after which Edward continued as an engraver and bookseller while Sylvester concentrated on drawing. Edward later became librarian to royalty, working for Queen Charlotte and the Prince Regent.

Full polished leather binding, spine with five raised bands, gilt tooling and gilt armorial stamp with coat of arms and crest, motto "Nil Desperandum" (armorial binding of Charles John Gardiner, 1st Earl of Blessington, 1782-1829). Book rebacked with spine relaid, leather scratched and scuffed. Marble endpapers repaired at hinges. Book block solid with all plates and text in very good condition, slight foxing and toning to a few plates but mostly toward the page edge and well outside the plate mark.

A very good copy of an increasingly rare book. Held at 28 libraries in the UK including the British Library, V&A, Wellcome Library, Leeds University, Liverpool University, etc.