Heath’s Gallery of British Engravings, Volumes 1 to 4 (bound in two volumes)

1836, 1837. Volumes 1 to 4 (complete), bound in two volumes. Both volumes bound uniformly in full leather, with blind and gilt embossed decorations, five panelled spine with gilt decorations and lettering, richly gilded and gauffered text block edges, gilded inner dentelles, marbled endpapers. Vignettes on illustrated title pages. Bound by the Jersey bookbinder, C Le Fauvre, with his bookbinder’s ticket on the front paste-down endpaper of each volume. Tall 8vo. Boards gently rubbed at edges, a little more harshly at spine tips and joints. Previous owner’s inscription neatly on first blank leaf of each volume. Binding of first signature in each volume at little strained and one gutter cracked. In the first volume, which contains volumes I & II of the work, the title page to volume I is absent. In volume two, the front free endpaper and a few subsequent leaves have a mild corner crease. There’s a some light spotting dotted throughout in each volume and hints of creaminess at page edges. Unpaginated. Together these volumes contain over 210 full page engravings, accompanied by selections related prose and poetry. Charles Heath was an engraver and early fellow of the RBA who exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1801 and 1825. He moved from engraving into art publishing in the late 1820s. Many of the engraved plates published under his name were in fact produced by assistants in his workshop.