Anecdotes of Painting in England; With some Account of the principal Artists; And incidental Notes on other Arts; Collected by the late Mr. George Vertue; and now digested and published from his original MSS. by Mr. Horace Walpole [with] A Catalogue of Engravers, Who have been born, or resided in England; Digested by Mr. Horace Walpole from the MSS. of Mr. George Vertue; to which is added An Account of the life and Works of the latter. [5 volume set].

London; Printed by Thomas Farmer at Strawberry Hill, 1762-1771; 1763., 1762. Hard Cover. FIRST EDITIONS. 5 volume uniform set. Quarto in half-sheets, pp. xiii, [1], 168, [22] (including errata leaf); [2], 158, 12, 58; [2], 155, [3], 4, [8]; x, [2], 151, [9]; [4], 128, 14, 20, [8]. 104 engraved plates to "Anecdotes" and 9 to "Catalogue". Nineteenth century maroon morocco bound by Lewis, with 5 raised bands, gilt titles to spine and heavy floral decoration to compartments; double gilt fillet border to boards; gilt dentelles and marbled endpapers; all edges gilt. Spines sunned, and 3 boards partially sunned; a little minor scuffing to boards. Large armorial bookplate of Nathan of Churt to each front paste-down; no annotation or inscriptions. Some offsetting from plates, mainly to Vol III, otherwise contents clean and crisp. A Very Good set. The most ambitious of all the Strawberry Hill publications, at the press set up in 1757 by Horace Walpole at his celebrated gothic mansion. Walpole purchased the notebooks of antiquary George Vertue from his widow, and based this work on Vertue's collected notes on historic English artists and their subjects, the great and good from the earliest days of portrait painting including the Stuarts and the interregnum period, giving his own unique interpretation of Vertue's work. Walpole employed several noted artists to engrave the plates including Bannerman, Chambars and Grignion. The work is rare; Hazen states " HW says that 600 copies of the first volume were printed, and 600 of the second. Since no figures are given for the third or fourth volume and the 'Catalogue of Engravers' one must assume the size of the edition was planned to match the first two volumes". An important and influential text in the history of English arts. Hazen: Strawberry Hill, p. 55 -68.