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Arthur, Mackmurdo : Wren's City Churches

G. Allen, London, 1883

First edition of this landmark book, famous for its art nouveau front board whose pattern is repeated on the ". . .title page that is generally regarded as the first manifestation of Art Nouveau." Rheims, Flowering of art nouveau, no. 519. Tall 8vo., publisher's decorated boards over parchment spine with the title lettered in black. De-accessioned by an unappreciative library where it acquired the following symbols of prior ownership: a giant rubber stamp on the otherwise blank front free end leaf, a few small blind embossings, one on the frontispiece and one on the title, which also has the word "discard" discretely stamped in the margin, dampstain on back flyleaf and facing end paper, and inked number partially removed from spine. Scarce.

First Art Nouveau Book