A HISTORY OF THE ABBEY CHURCH OF ST. PETER'S WESTMINSTER, Its Antiquities and Monuments

London: For R. Ackerman, 1812. 2 volumes. First edition and First Issue, originally issued in 16 monthly parts. A copy with pleasing provenance. Illustrated with 81 magnificent hand-coloured aquatint plates of views of Westminster Abbey and an egraved portrait of William Vincent and a floor plan of the Abbey. Large 4to, handsomely bound in fine red morocco, the spines with wide gilt decorated and gilt ruled raised bands creating the compartments, two compartments gilt lettered and ruled, the covers with triple gilt fillet rules at the borders, turnovers tooled in blind, all edges gilt., armorial bookplates of George Dunn of Wooley Hall and Arthur John Dorman. xviii, 330, [6]; 275, [4] pp. A very handsome and pleasing set, the plates clean and bright and in an excellent state, the bindings strong and firm, some inevitable offsetting from plates to text as usual, the text leaves with some very occasional light spotting as normal. FIRST EDITION OF THIS TRULY GRAND WORK BRILLIANTLY BOUND AND A WONDERFUL SET WITH 81 HAND-COLOURED SCENES OF WESTMINSTER ABBEY, ONE OF THE GREAT ACKERMANN PLATE BOOKS. The fine subtly hued images include both interior and exterior views of the Abbey. They include not only the architectural features but also the stained glass windows, mosaic pavement, the chapels, monuments, effigies and transepts. The artist included F. Mackenzie, A. Pugin, J. Bluck, T. Uwins, G. Shepherd, J. Hamble, T. Sutherland and others.
The set is the very scarce first issue of the edition, with the first plate of volume two, "Aymer de Valance", marked "F. Mackenzie delt." as called for. The half-titles and subscriber's list are retained within the fine red morocco bindings. This is one of Ackermann's major colour plate books.
George Dunn was educated at Beaumont College, Windsor, and at Stonyhurst, and was afterwards called to the Bar...[He] inherited large estates both in Northumberland and Berkshire, together with sufficient revenues, and was able to indulge the tastes of a scholar and collector of early printed books, mediaeval bindings, manuscripts, old silver, and old clocks, as well as those of a sportsman and keen angler, an astronomer and a student of forestry. Of none of these things was he content to have a superficial knowledge. Indeed, it may be said that he handled nothing without mastering it completely ... "Mr. George Dunn," The Times (11 March 1912), p. 11.
Sir Arthur John Dorman, 1st Baronet, KBE was an important British industrialist. In 1875, he went into partnership with Albert de Lande Long to acquire the West Marsh Ironworks in Middlesbrough. During the 1880s they mastered the new steelmaking technologies being introduced at that time including the use of Open hearth furnaces. Together they built a large industrial concern, Dorman Long, which by 1914 employed 20,000 people and during the World War I was a major supplier of shells.[