Two Art Books 1919, 1979. This lot consists of two art books: “A Dictionary of Venetian Painters” by Pietro Zampeti and “Modern Etchings And Their Collectors” by Thomas Simpson. The first book titled “A Dictionary of Venetian Painters. Volume 5. 19th & 20th Centuries” was written by Pietro Zampeti and published by F. Lewis, Publishers by appointment to the late Queen Mary, in London, at Leigh-on-Sea, and a first edition (stated) that came out in 1979. The book has a white dust jacket, blue boards with a gilt-decorated spine and gilt-decorated front cover, blank endpapers, the half-title and title page, 72 pages of text, and 62 black and white images on 16 double-sided plates at the rear, and a bibliography for each artist listed. The book measures 11 1/2 x 8 3/4 in. wide, the binding is tight, the pages and images are exceptionally clean, with just light brown spots when you look at the top edges from above, and the dust jacket is very clean, with light wear at the crown, light folds across the top edges and a horizontal crease at the bottom of the back cover, very light wear and browning at two tips of the dust jacket, and an attractive book and good reference work to major and minor Venetian artists of the period. The second book is “Modern Etchings And Their Collectors” by Thomas Simpson, published in London by John Lane at the The Bodley Head and in New York by John Lane Company in 1919, with 25 reproductions in photogravure and an original signed etching by W. P. Robins, and it is a limited and numbered first edition; there were only 50 copies made for sale in England and America, and this is number 46 of the 50 copies, according to the limitation page. (Two additional editions of 450 and 500 copies were added later on, but the first edition consisted of only the 50 numbered copies.) The book is 1/2 bound, with the spine covered in vellum and gilt lettering, gray boards, blank endpapers, the half-title, the limitation page, the frontispiece by W. P. Robins, the title page, a one-page Preface, a Contents page, a two-page list of Illustrations, then 66 pages of text and plates, followed by an Appendix that runs to page 88, the edges are deckled, and the top edge is gilt, and it has etchings by artists like Legros, Whistler, and Muirhead Bone. William Palmer Robins (1882 - 1959) was born in Southwark, England, and was a noted artist and etcher, as well as an essayist and book illustrator who created more than 270 etchings, woodcuts, lithographs, mezzotints, dry-points, aquatints, watercolors and oil paintings during his lifetime. He trained for two years at an architectural firm, then became an instructor of art for twenty years at the St. Martins School of Art. In 1909 he created his first copper plates: The Pool, The Hayfield and Pevensey Beach, and was a most exacting artist: if a plate did not meet his critical eye, he would destroy it; he estimated that he destroyed twice as many plates as he published. He was considered a highly skilled member of the landscape tradition which was reminiscent of the work of Rembrandt, and his subjects were mainly landscapes, farm scenes with trees, harbors with boats, detailed studies of buildings, churches, and bridges, as well as a limited number of portraits, and the frontispiece here is an original drypoint done and signed by Robins. (It is titled “The Little Bridge”.) The book is 4to. and measures 12 x 9 1/4 in. wide, the binding is tight and the pages and images are very clean, the vellum binding and covers have light soiling, there’s light offset from the etchings on some of the tissue guards, light wear at the tips, and a scarce book about etchings and artists from the 1800’s and early 1900’s. #218 #1553