Some account of the Collegiate Chapel of Saint Stephen, Westminster; with Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Specimens of the Architecture and Ornaments of such Parts of it are now Remaining by Topham, John Esq. F.R.S - 1795

First edition. Published by the Order and at the Expense of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. And Sold at the Apartments of the Society at Somerset Place. Sumptibus Soc. Antiquar., Londini.: Publish'd According to Act of Parliament, 23d. April 1795. Elephant Folio. Half-title, 9pp. 14 copper engraved plates. Each plate carries the dated publisher's imprint of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Plate I (added engraved title-plate) carries the draughtsman's signature of John Carter. All signed as engraved by James Basire. Original quarter calf, blue paper-covered boards. Gilt lettering to spine. Original title plate to upper board, with two small areas of loss. Hinges strengthened with linen tape. Wear, cracking and repair to spine. Edges and corners worn. Some age discolouration to boards. Front free endpaper creased. Slight edge chipping. Occasional light spotting/foxing. Some creasing to tissue guards. Armorial bookplate to fep. ESTC T105074

Provenance: Armorial Bookplate of Nathan of Churt. Harry Louis Nathan, 1st Baron Nathan, PC, TD, FBA, FSA (1889 - 1963) British Liberal politician. Bookplate signed H. J. F. Badeley 1945.

John Topham (1746 - 1803) Archivist, Librarian of Lambeth Palace, editor, and lawyer. In 1771 he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn, and on 5 April 1779 he was elected a member of the Royal Society. In May 1781 he was appointed a deputy-keeper of the state papers.

John Carter (1748 - 1817) Architectural draughtsman and illustrator, antiquary and architect. "John Carter was the first artist to record systematically the medieval interior of St Stephen's Chapel. Between 1790 and 1794, he drew portions of the fabric still partially hidden beneath later architectural iterations. Further paintings were uncovered in 1800, but Carter was barred from entering due to a long-running dispute with the architect James Wyatt. Carter recorded this visit in The Gentleman's Magazine, lamenting that he "saw some of the most rare works of art that this or any country ever produced falling beneath the workmen's hammers."." Helen Howard, Lloyd de Beer, David Saunders and others, "The Wall Paintings at St Stephen's Chapel, Westminster Palace: Recent Imaging and Scientific Analysis of the Fragments in the British Museum", British Art Studies, Issue 16, https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-16/oneobject

James Basire the younger (1769 - 1835) Engraver. Engraver to the Society of Antiquaries. Son of engraver James Basire (1730-1802); father of engraver/ithographer James Basire (1796-1869)

Sir Henry John Fanshawe Badeley, First Baron Badeley of Badley (1874-1951) K.C.B., C.B.E. entered the Parliament Office in 1897. He was also a noted engraver. Badeley studied with Sir Frank Short at the Royal College of Art and they remained friends for many years. Short is known to have proved a number of Badeley's etching plates. As an etcher and engraver Badeley exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter Etchers and Engravers, Badeley is best known for his exceptional line engraved bookplates. Badeley made bookplates for the library of the House of Lords and the Danish royal family.

The Royal Chapel of Saint Stephen (built around 1297 for Henry III) served as the chamber of the House of Commons of England and that of Great Britain from 1547 to 1834. It was largely destroyed in the fire of 1834. The present-day St Stephen's Hall in the new Palace of Westminster built in the 19th century, stands on exactly the same site and is accessed through the St Stephen's Entrance, the public entrance of the House of Commons.

References:

Royal Institute of British Architects, British Architectural Library. Early printed books, 4 (2001), no. 3111. M.E. Roberts. 'John Carter at St. Stephen's Chapel: a Romantic turns archaeologist', in England in the fourteenth century, ed. W.M. Ormrod (1986), p. 202-12. J.M. Crook. 'John Carter and the mind of the Gothic Revival', in Society of Antiquaries occasional papers, 17 (1995), p.24. Sam Smiles. Eye witness: artists and visual documentation in Britain 1770-1830 (2000), esp. chap. 3, 'Recording the Gothic'. Rosemary Hill, "'Proceeding like Guy Faux': The Antiquarian Investigation of St Stephen's Chapel Westminster, 1790–1837", Architectural History 59 (2016): 253–279.