The Locks of the Oxford Canal; A Journey from Oxford to Coventry in fifty wood-engravings by John Craig
The Whittington Press, 1984. First, Limited Edition. Imperial 8vo, (265 x 190 mm); 69 pp. Fifty wood-engravings and line-block reproductions of three pairs of diagrams by John Craig. Machine-set in 12-point Monotype Walbaum, printed in black with brown title, on Zerkall smooth white wove paper. Line-block reproductions of diagrams printed on a folded sheet of T. H. Saunders blue wove hand-made paper (opening to 260 x 600 mm). Bound by Woolnough in natural canvas with a circular blind panel on the front; inset engraving on cream Zerkall paper (55 mm diameter) and, matching spine-label. Headbands, top-edge orange-brown. Colorplan Scarlet endpapers with an enlarged and reversed outline-block reproduction of a wood-engraving printed in brown. Whittington subscription card loosely inserted.
Copy no. 199 of 350 copies printed, signed by John Craig in red ink on the limitation page.
[Butcher 74].
A substantial and visually engaging Whittington Press volume, this work offers both an artistic and documentary journey along the historic Oxford Canal, was started by James Brindley (1716-72), the great canal engineer, and was continued after his death by his assistant, Samuel Simcock. It was authorized by an Act of 1769 to connect Coventry with Banbury and Oxford and thence by the Thames with London. John Craig’s sequence of fifty wood-engravings traces the route from Hawkesbury Junction to Isis Lock at Oxford, capturing each lock with clarity, precision, and a quiet appreciation for the engineering and landscape alike. The accompanying text provides historical context, noting the canal’s origins under James Brindley (1716 - 1762) and its completion in the late eighteenth century, while the folding diagram sheet illustrates in section and plan the method of working through a lock (which is described in the Introduction). A list of the forty-three locks, their distance from Oxford and their rise or fall is included. An appendix lists books, guides and maps about canals. Both a celebration of Britain’s canal heritage and a fine example of modern wood-engraving, the book will appeal to collectors of private press printing, topographical works, and industrial history.
Condition: Fine.
Item number: 2390
ISBN: 0904845508
Price: $400.00
Share: