SHURLOCK, Manwaring (dates unknown). Tiles from Chertsey Abbey, Surrey, Representing Early Romance Subjects, London, 1885, folio, frontispiece and 40 plates printed in colours, original-cloth-backed pictorial boards (shaken, text loose). FIRST EDITION.

SHURLOCK, Manwaring (dates unknown).  Tiles from Chertsey Abbey, Surrey, Representing Early Romance Subjects. London: William Griggs, 1885. Folio (485 x 340mm). Coloured frontispiece, title printed in red and black, red initial, 40 plates of tiles printed in colours. Original cloth-backed coloured pictorial boards with ecclesiastical decorations (heavily shaken, with text leaves loose, but most of the plates holding, stained and scuffed, inner hinges reinforced). Provenance: William Knight, 1888 (signature on front pastedown). "Dr. Manwaring Shurlock, a keen antiquary and Chertsey resident, was intrigued by the tiles [from the site of Chertsey Abbey] which were  superior in quality to any he had seen before. He collated and arranged fragments saved from the 1854 discovery, and succeeded in re-assembling approximately 30 designs, which he published in a volume of full-sized plates ... These encaustic tiles, for which Chertsey is well known, were made sometime between 1250 and 1290. The designs were created by pressing a die on to the red earthenware title and filling the impression made with a white pipe clay ... [They] are reputed to be the finest tiles produced in medieval England and, as one antiquarian commented, 'must have been drawn by one of the ablest masters of the second half of the 13th-century for they are exceptional for the delicate lines and edges' ... During his studies, Dr. Manwaring Shurlock discovered two important groups of picture tiles. One was illustrated with the romantic tale of Tristram and Isolde ... and the other with tales of Richard the Lion Heart and his Crusades ... Other tiles show the medieval farming months of the year ... Whilst the tiles from the 1854 excavation can be seen in the V&A, most of the tiles collected by Dr. Manwaring Shurlock were bequeathed to the British Museum on his death. Others were given to the Surrey Archaeological Society and can now be seen in Guildford Museum, whilst in 1996, 11 complete tiles were discovered near the Abbey site and were bought by Chertsey Museum" (from Chertsey Museum's website). FIRST EDITION.