A very attractive late 19th century view of Great Witchingham Hall*, near Norwich, Norfolk which appeared in the Reverend F. O. Morris’s The County Seats of the Noblemen and Gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland (London: 1864-1880). The original page of text that accompanies the view is included.
Drawn by Francis Lydon and printed by Benjamin Fawcett, the plates from this series were produced by a technique known as ‘Chromoxylography’, an early form of colour printing based on the Baxter process. Each plate comprises of eight or more different colours which were applied by separate woodblocks. The overall detail, richness and quality, however, was down to the combined abilities of both Lydon as a draughtsman and Fawcett as a printer. Morris’s work ran into six volumes with a total of 240 coloured plates being produced.
*The building in now the headquarters of Bernard Matthews Foods Limited. Matthews bought the then dilapidated property in 1950 for just £3000 so as to fill its 35 rooms with turkeys. Whilst he and his wife lived in two unheated rooms, turkeys were hatched in the dining room, reared in the Jacobean bedrooms and slaughtered in the kitchens.
- This is an original chromoxylograph.
- Printed area is approximately 18.9cms by 15.4cms (includes title).
- The item is in very good condition with decent margins. Click on image for a better view.
- The item comes displayed in a ready to frame green acid free mount.
- Click on ‘Delivery Policy’ for postage costs.
- Guaranteed to be over 140 years old.
