[Essex House In Vellum]. Norman Architecture In Essex Godman, Ernest Architecture,England,Gothic Revival,History,Private Press

First edition. #17 of 300 hand-numbered copies, of which this one of an unstated few bound in full stiff vellum with green silk ties and gilt-lettered spine. Filled to the brim with 50 illustrations of buildings and architectural details, including one etched plate, two photographic plates, and 47 illustrations in the text (32 of which are full-page). This study of Norman architecture in the county of Essex is a result of Essex House Press founder C. R. Ashbee's and Godman's intense interest in preserving historic architecture and Ashbee's involvement in William Morris's Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings. Godman was Ashbee's first architectural pupil and first secretary of Ashbee's Committee for the Survey of the Memorials of Greater London (which included parts of Essex and Middlesex). "[Godman] and Ashbee made an odd pair, the one was all fire and go, the other plodding along. . ." Crawford, C.R. Ashbee. Architect, Designer & Romantic Socialist (1985, pgs. 58-60, 216-17). This work documents buildings constructed between the Norman Conquest in 1066 and 1200 A.D. and was the one in a series of six proposed architectural studies planned by Ashbee and Godman that was cut short by Godman's early death. 8vo. Tomkinson 57. Ransom 54. Crawford 62. Ashbee, pg. 78. Near fine with some offsetting to the endpapers.