A bit of heritage

A couple of engravings which fell out of our copy of a 100 year old book about Westminster Abbey, in which the abbey is historically described by one Henry John Feasey, a book which is illustrated with 75 rather handsome black and white photographs. Binding rotted, so we have a loose leaf book, albeit still in the original stout green boards. Said to be one of just 360 printed, but not numbered. So who knows where all this leaves it from a collectibles point of view.

The engravings turn out to come from Harrison's edition of Rapin's ten volume Histoire d'Angleterre, published around 1725. With Rapin being an expatriate Frenchman and with Harrison's English edition coming out around 1786, some sixty years later. At least 1786 is the date on the bottom of one of the engravings, so maybe these two engravings, cut out of some copy of said book, are over 200 years old.

Google suggests copperplate engravings and I presume that it is plate marks which are just about visible on both right hand margins. Drawn by Gravelot (of reference 1) and engraved by Goldar (of reference 2). To my mind of antiquarian, rather than artistic interest. But I also wondered at the amount of time which would be needed to produce work of this sort: perhaps the two artists earned a good deal less than the rich dilletantes who would have bought it. Or perhaps rich libertines who needed some etchings with which to entice the ladies in. Chaps who would probably not know the difference between an engraving and an etching. And with this last being left as an exercise for the reader.

PS: efforts to rotate and trim the original (Lumia) photograph to something neat defeated by scroll arrows.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert-Fran%C3%A7ois_Gravelot.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldar.