JACKSON, JOHN BAPTIST. An Essay on the Invention of Engraving and Printing in Chiaro Oscuro, as practiced by Albert Durer, Hugo di Carpi, &c. 7 (of 8) chiaroscuro woodcut plates; lacking the lion plate. 19 pages. 4to, approximately 295x229 mm, modern 1/2 calf; title toned and spotted, plates heavily foxed, offsetting onto adjacent leaves; uncut. London: A. Millar for S. Baker et al., 1754
first edition. Jackson refined the Renaissance technique of printing color woodcuts from multiple blocks, which he first applied to virtuoso reproductive prints. His Essay, intended to promote his subsequent venture into wallpaper production, contains the first color-printed book illustrations to appear in England since the 1486 Book of St. Albans. "Unfortunately, the oil-based inks, the importance of which he stressed in the text, were not suited to the paper he used, and in all known copies the colors have spread and become blurred"--Friedman, Color Printing in England 9.
