London: Day & Son, [1865]. First edition. Publisher's red cloth, covers decoratively stamped in gilt and blue, spine decoratively lettered in gilt. Yellow coated endpapers, all edges gilt. Inner hinges expertly and invisibly repaired, some minor rubbing and creasing to corners, otherwise near fine.Large quarto (11 3/16 x 8 1/2 inches; 285 x 215 mm.). Twenty-six leaves printed on heavy card stock, each printed on both sides with fine chromolithographic decorations. On each leaf is a Bible verse, printed in black and red on a gold background; on the verso is a full-page color illustration on a gold background. The text and the illustrations are within elaborate illuminated borders. A wonderful example of Victorian chromolithography at its very best by one of the masters of the art form.

Owen Jones (1809-1874) was a Welsh architect, decorative artist and ornamental designer. Through his efforts to publish his findings on the historic use of color in decoration, he also became one of the pioneers of chromolithography. He published many seminal and definitive works, including The Sermon on the Mount (1844), The Grammar of Ornament (1856), a highly influential book in ornamentation and decorative arts and The History of Joseph and his Brethren (1865). (Item #3670)