James Orrock, RI, Printer, Connoisseur, Collector (2 Volumes)

Complete in two volumes. Frontispieces and a further 175 plate illustrations, all but one tissue-guarded. xxiv, 223pp; xvi, 271 pp. No 333 of an edition limited to 500 copies. Bound in creamy beige cloth boards, with extensive gilt decorations, rules and lettering on both boards and spine. Top edge gilt, all others deckled. (Boards a little soiled, rubbed on corners, rounded at spine ends, with call number reference on spine). Internally neat and clean barring a little toning on endpapers and reference library markings on endpapers and small library ownership stamps on reverse of plates. An extensive and detailed account of the life and work of James Orrock, the Scottish printer and art collector. It examines the influences which shaped his work and his rise in status. Orrock was a noted member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours (RI), which rivalled the Royal Watercolour Society and challenged the Royal Academy’s refusal to accept watercolours as serious art. Orrock is thought to be the main source of late nineteenth-century painting forgeries, especially the works of John Constable.