Esteemable provenance. ASTLE, THOMAS (1735-1803). The Origin and Progress of Writing, as well Hieroglyphic as Elementary, Illustrated by Engravings Taken from Marbles, Manuscripts and Charters, Ancient and Modern: Also Some Account of the Origin and Progress of Printing. London: Printed by T. Bensley for J. White, 1803. Large quarto (464 x 285 mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece of the author by William Skelton after Henry Howard. Illustrated with 31 deeply engraved full-page plates (including several large folding facsimiles, showcasing early Anglo-Saxon scripts, charters, and hand-colored medieval illuminations). Some spotting and browning, primarily to preliminary leaves. Contemporary full red long-grain morocco, covers framed with elegant blind-rolled geometric borders, spine decorated in blind, gilt-lettered direct, turn-ins decorated in gilt, all edges gilt. Extremities lightly rubbed. Provenance: Sir Foster Cunliffe, 3rd Baronet (bookplate); Anthony Hobson (bookplate). The preferred second and best edition, a magnificent tall copy bound in contemporary morocco, boasting provenance from two historic generations of British connoisseurship. Sir Foster Cunliffe, 3rd Baronet (1755-1834), was a noted 18th-century antiquarian, patron, and sports enthusiast; with his fine, large allegorical armorial bookplate pasted to the front interior board. The bookplate was custom designed and engraved for Cunliffe by the celebrated royal engraver Francesco Bartolozzi. Anthony Hobson (1921-2014), world-renowned scholar of historic bookbindings; with the distinctive Hobson bookplate affixed to the front pastedown. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing