19-Volume Vintage Time-Life Library of Art Books, Decorative Designer Set

Details

Description

A beautifully coordinated collection of 19 vintage volumes from the celebrated Time-Life Library of Art series, published during the 1960s … Read more A beautifully coordinated collection of 19 vintage volumes from the celebrated Time-Life Library of Art series, published during the 1960s and early 1970s. Richly illustrated and substantial in scale, the collection presents the lives, historical settings, and masterworks of many of Western art’s most influential painters and sculptors.

Each oversized hardcover volume combines scholarly text with abundant black-and-white and full-color reproductions, including dramatic full-page and double-page illustrations. The bindings are finished in handsome red, deep green, black, and warm taupe, with gilt-stamped titles that create a particularly striking decorative presentation when displayed together.

Beyond their value as an accessible art-history reference, these volumes make an especially handsome decorative collection. Their coordinated red, deep green, black and warm taupe bindings, gilt lettering and illustrated slipcases create a sophisticated, collected-over-time appearance. Display them together in a library or study, divide them among bookshelves, or stack selected volumes on a console or coffee table for an artful designer accent.

Eighteen of the 19 volumes retain their original cream-colored illustrated slipcases. Each slipcase features a carefully selected artwork associated with its subject, giving the collection a gallery-like appearance whether arranged vertically, stacked horizontally, or incorporated into a library, study, living room or designer bookshelf.

The collection includes:

The World of Michelangelo
The World of Leonardo
The World of Titian
The World of Dürer
The World of Bruegel
The World of Vermeer
The World of Bernini
The World of Gainsborough
The World of Rubens
The World of Velázquez
The World of Rembrandt
The World of Copley
The World of Manet
The World of Goya
The World of Rodin
The World of Delacroix
The World of Whistler
The World of Matisse
American Painting, 1900–1970

The books measure approximately 12 inches high by 9.5 inches deep. Arranged upright together, the 19-volume collection measures approximately 16.5 inches wide. Approximate Weight- 44 pounds.

The decorative eagle bookends shown in selected styled photographs are presentation props and are not included.

Condition statement

Very good vintage condition overall. The hardcover books themselves are exceptionally well preserved, with tight bindings and remarkably clean, bright interiors that appear scarcely used. Eighteen volumes retain their original illustrated slipcases; The World of Michelangelo is the single volume without its slipcase.

The cream-colored slipcases display expected age-related shelf wear, including occasional rubbing, light discoloration, softened or bumped corners, and localized lifting or separation of the exterior paper covering of the slip cover case along some edges and corners. Please examine the detailed photographs, which form part of the condition description. The noted wear is primarily confined to the protective slipcases; the books and their illustrated interiors remain in excellent condition. See less