“THE FIRST USEFUL LISTING” OF GILBERT STUART’S WORKS, INSCRIBED BY STUART BIOGRAPHER AND AUTHOR JOHN HILL MORGAN

(STUART, Gilbert) MORGAN, John Hill and PARK, Lawrence. Gilbert Stuart: An Illustrated Descriptive List of His Works… With an Account of His Life. New York: William Edwin Rudge, 1926. Four volumes. Folio, original full navy cloth, top edges gilt. $750.

First edition, presentation copy, with hundreds of plates, inscribed by the author of the account of Stuart’s life to a prominent book collector: “I hope your appreciation for Raeburn may lead you to admire the work of Gilbert Stuart. Cordially Yours, John Hill Morgan. To E. Hubert Litchfield, Esq. Dec. 1926.”

An art historian specializing in early American art, by 1921 Lawrence Park had already “begun research for what would be his best-known publication, a catalogue of the work of the American artist Gilbert Stuart… Despite declining health, Park collected information on most of Stuart’s portraits… His catalog of the work of Stuart was the first useful listing of that artist’s extensive oeuvre and is still used today” (ANB). The work also includes an account of Stuart’s life and a presentation inscription by John Hill Morgan, who was one of Stuart’s most dedicated biographers and who wrote quite extensively about him. Armorial bookplates and pencil owner initials of the recipient of this copy, E. Hubert Litchfield, a member of the prominent New York railroad industry family as well as an accomplished book collector.

A fine inscribed presentation set.