This is a one-owner volume, purchased new by my wife and me mid-way through our 50+ years of marriage. Having been treated to first-hand samples of Sargents works in Chicago and New York, it would have been difficult for us not to bite when this Whitney/Abrams hardcover volume became available. Our sporadic "collecting" wasfor display and investment,not nightstand reading, so a showpiece as large and artful as this fit right in. We are not professional collectors, have no focus period or genre. We instead purchase relative to places we have visited, art we have admired, and other interests dear to our hearts. Having enjoyed many decades of this type sporadic collecting, we now are at a point in life where we are downsizing, divesting rather than investing, and are thankful for eBay as a means of thoughtfully passing on our treasured finds to others.
As commented in the "Sellers Notes" section above, condition of this volume is "new" and "pristine" (all photos). The spine is totally straight without stretch or crease (2nd photo). The fine-grained cloth covered boards and heavy-stock pages are stiff and tight at the binding, with clearly hard edges and pointed corners (3rd - 12th photo). The dust jacket is totally pristine, no wear marks, no tears, primarily due to the Demco Paperfold cover protector added at time of purchase, providingcrystal clear 1.5 ml archive-safe polyester protection (held in place by the small tape strips visible in the 1st photo). The spine is gold embossed "John Singer Sargent" and "Whitney Museum/Abrams"" (3rd photo), no other embellishment is needed. The volume, like so many we own, has been opened only twice in its lifetime: selected pages partially and gingerly lifted for inspection at time of purchase, and selected pages again lifted in the same way for purpose of this listings text and photos.
This Sargent volume results from a cooperative effort between the Whitney Museum of American Art and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, both in New York. It was created on the occasion of the Sargent exhibition appearing first at the Whitney in New York October 1986 through January 1987, then moving to the Art Institute in Chicago, February through April 1987. It is a 1st Edition, and as best as I can determine, no longer in print. Copyright and publication dates both are 1986. Included in its 295 numbered pages are a group of essays assembled by and contributed to by the books author, Patricia Hills, Associate Professor of Art History at Boston University. Intermixed with Ms. Hills and the others text are 260 illustrations, including 90 plates in full color. Singer (1856-1925)was an expatriate, regarded as one of Americas greatest 19th century painters, and as the leading international portraitist of his time. This volume serves to record and expand on every aspect of his life, work, and artistic sensibility.
The volume measures 9 1/4" x 11 3/4" x 1 3/8", and weighs approximately 4 pounds.
All the above considered, and after a good deal of research into condition and pricing of supposed comparables throughout the net, I have priced our Sargent volume at the high end, and will adjust from there accordingly as time passes. There is no way to know for certain, but I believe we have here an unusually well-preserved and rare 25+ year old copy, deserving of the Buy-It-Now price. I am willing, of course, to negotiate, but only with serious and well-intentioned buyers.
