[Macmurdo, A. H.- Among Earliest Art Nouveau Illustration Printed- William Fredeman's Copy, with Extra Bookplates] Wren's City Churches

Sunnyside, Orpington, Kent: G. Allen, 1883. First Edition. First Edition. Quarto, 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. Original publishers half-parchment with exquisite and historical cover image (also appearing as full-size title page) considered to be one of the earliest appearances of a distinctly Art Nouveau design in a printed book. Half-title, decorative "Art Nouveau" title-page, and striking mezzotint frontispiece by G. Allen (after Mackmurdo). In 1882 Mackmurdo founded the Century Guild "to render all branches of Art the sphere no longer of the tradesman but of the Artist," and in the following year designed the striking title and cover design to his Wren's City Churches, which, "with its swirling pattern, is one of the precursors of English art nouveau." (ODNB). Arthur Heygate Mackmurdo (1851 ñ 1942) began as a progressive English architect and designer, who influenced the Arts and Crafts Movement, notably through the Century Guild of Artists, which he set up in partnership with Herbert Horne in 1882. He was the pioneer of the Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style) and in turn global Art Nouveau movement. His earliest artistic influence was John Ruskin, who had been a major source of inspiration for both first- and second-generation Pre-Raphaelites. Mackmurdo learned the tenets of Pre-Raphaelite design from William Morris, who convinced him to establish the Century Guild, which he founded in 1882 with Selwyn Image. "The illustration ó nearly identical to Mackmurdo's design carved on the back of a dining room chair produced about 1882 and to Thorns and Butterflies, a wallpaper conceived around 1886, depicts serpentine stalks of flowers that separate at the top of the page and coalesce into one large stalk at the bottom." (Timothy R. Rogers, for Victorian Web). This was originally William E. Fredeman's Copy (foremost Pre-Raphaelite scholar), with his circular monogram bookplate, and a packet of four other unused "WEF" bookplates loosely inserted. As well, with prospectus for Sparrow Simpson's "St. Paul's Cathedral and Old City Life" loosely inserted. An amazing copy, in fine condition, with only minor bumping to corners. The parchment spine, almost always seen discolored and/or worn, is nearly as new. Most scarce thus.