MODERN HOUSE PAINTING CONTAINING TWENTY COLORED LITHOGRAPHIC PLATES

(PAINT) ROSSITER, E.K., and F.A. Wright. MODERN HOUSE PAINTING. New York: William T. Comstock, 1882. Oblong 4to. Publisher's cloth, later cloth covered slip case. 16, (12) pages, 20 chromolithographed plates complete, each with a leaf of text. First edition. Roger Moss, in his pioneering book, Century of Color, refers to Rossiter frequently and reproduces five color plates from this magnificent book. While OCLC locates fourteen copies in American libraries, no copy has sold at auction in the past twenty-five years (the last in 1961). The book is also not in Hitchcock, who does record other books on house painting. The book records the bold combinations of reds, greens, oranges, yellows, browns, and blues, which comprise the Victorian pallet, "exhibiting the use of color in exterior and interior house painting, and embracing examples of simple and elaborate work in plain, graded, and parti-colors...the whole work offering valuable hints and suggestions on harmonious color treatment, suitable to every variety of building." Some minimal foxing but a very good copy nevertheless. (Inventory #: 39266)