BREMER PRESSE. ECKARDT, Annette. FIELD, William B. Osgood. ~ Edward Lear on My Shelves.
No.45 of 155 copies, signed by the author. 5 landscapes hand coloured by Annette von Eckardt, numerous superb phototypes printed by J.B. Obernetter. Printed on Zanders handmade paper. Folio, original linen backed holland boards with the stamp of the Bremer Presse binder Frieda Thiersch, printed paper spine label. Very mild fading to the edges of the boards, otherwise a very good copy. With 4 page prospectus from the New York distributors of the book Duttons inserted loose.
The collection includes first editions of Lear, original water colour drawings, sketch books and manuscript diaries. The book includes a new interpretation of Lear’s life based on the diaries.
Eckardt was trained at the Marseille Art Academy and the Munich Women’s Academy. She was a highly accomplished artist and copyist, running her own workshop in Munich where she restored sculptures, enamel work, textiles and manuscripts, amongst many other things with many of her commissions coming from State museums. She also made remarkable copies of paintings, frescoes and manuscripts, for instance she copied Pompeian frescoes in their original size for the Prussian State Collections in Kassel. She also created copies of paintings and these medieval manuscripts for which she became particularly well-known. Here we have a superb example of her work.