Lot 645: DUBOST, Antoine (1769-1825). Newmarket, Collection d'onze planches lithographiques... A

DUBOST, Antoine (1769-1825). Newmarket, Collection d'onze planches lithographiques... A Collection of Eleven Plates, Executed in Lithography; Representing a View of Newmarket and the Life of the Race Horse. Paris: J. Smith for the author, 1818.

2° (495 x 340mm). Parallel letterpress title and text in French and English. Hand-coloured lithographic frontispiece and 10 plates by Dubost. (Lacking text leaf 10, French title with neat marginal repairs, some variable spotting.) Contemporary half cloth over patterned boards, spine ruled and titled in gilt (rebacked and recornered, original spine laid down, a little rubbed).

FIRST EDITION. DUBOST'S RARE SERIES OF LITHOGRAPHS OF NEWMARKET, which includes portraits of a number of thoroughbreds descended from the Godolphin arabian. The frontispiece states that the plates include portraits of the 'most celebrated running horses in 1809', whilst also showing the 'life of the race horse from the moment of his entering the stud till that of his being put up for auction'. Dubost, thanks to a substantial private income, was able to concentrate on both the painting and racing of horses. A friend and contemporary of Carle Vernet, he studied in Paris under Vincent whilst also owning and riding horses in a number of important races. After a period in the French army he went to England in 1806, apparently attracted by the lure of Newmarket and the high quality of the racing, and in 1809 he painted the twelve canvases on which the present series of prints are based. Finally returning to France in 1813, he continued to paint and exhibit genre and allegorical works. In 1825 he became involved in a dispute over 'un pavillon' with his architect neighbour, which reached a tragic conclusion with a duel on 6 September during which both protagonists were killed. Although Newmarket was originally issued loose in an oblong folio format, the present set has been bound in upright folio format, and does not include the 2-leaf 'Addition' (in French only), which was probably a separate publication and is sometimes found bound with the work (cf. the Gloucester-Mellon copy, without the 'Addition'). Only one other copy of the work is recorded at auction by ABPC since 1975. Mellon/Podeschi 106; Mennessier de la Lance I, pp. 413-4.

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