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[Nollekens]. SMITH, John Thomas : Nollekens and His Times: comprehending a life of that celebrated sculptor; and memoirs of several contemporary artists, .

London, Colburn 1828.

Two volumes octavo half gilt calf (sides faded but not the spines for some reason). A front fly removed, an excellent and handsome set.

First edition. A singular, personable, gossipy, bitchy life almost as eccentric as its subject and still the standard work. It has been suggested that the bitterness that erupts throughout the work was the result of the miser’s failure to leave Smith his expected bequest. Since its rediscovery at at the end of the century there have been several reprints but they all seem to have excised most of volume II containing some dry facts and the uneven but entertaining brief lives of Roubiliac, Hogarth, Reynolds, Fuseli, Flaxman, Blake and others.

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