Every year through the 1780s, for the fortnight after Whitsun, the Swiss-born artist S.H. Grimm toured Sussex, sketching churches and the monuments, the remains of the medieval castles and abbeys and, particularly, the houses of the gentry. Commissioned by the lawyer and antiquary Sir William Burrell, the resulting 900 watercolours are an incomparable record of the county's buildings, and yet untouched by the Victorian's zealous restorations and demolitions.
This handsome book reproduces 116 or Grimm's pictures, together with 88 watercolours, oils and drawings by 40 other artists from the early 17th to the early 19th century. Each picture is accompanied by a 200 word caption, often based on new research, on the building's history. The 40,000 word introduction, 'Antiquaries and artists in Sussex from 1585 to 1835', traces the progress of the county's depiction in both words and pictures, from William Camden's fieldwork in Queen Elizabeth's reign for his 'Britannia', through William Burrell's monumental but forlorn efforts to write a county history, to T.W. Horsfield's 'History, Antiquities and Topography of the County of Sussex' published just before Queen Victoria's accession. Two accounts of tours through Sussex, in 1743 and 1777, are printed, along with prospectuses for Budgen's map of 1724 and the Buck's engravings of 1737. The text is fully referenced and indexes, with a bibliography of 700 titles.
Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgements
Editorial Conventions
Abbreviations
Antiquaries and Artists in Sussex 1585 to 1835
1. Sussex Chorography Before 1700
2. Antiquarian Study in the Early 18th Century
3. William Burrell and his Collaborators
4. Sights for the Tourist, Tomes for the Learned
5. References
The Documents
1. The Prospectus for Richard Budgen's Map of Sussex 1723
2. Two Prospectuses and a Subscription List for the Bucks' Views
3. Jeremiah Milles's Tours in Sussex 1743
4. Sussex Views in Francis Grose's 'Antiquities of England and Wales'
5. Francis Grose's Tour in Sussex with William Burrell, May 1777
6. Two Letters from William Burrell
7. 'Books and MSS Perused': William Burrell's Sources
8. S.H. Grimm's Will, 1790
9. References
Colour Plates
The Views (Listed Alphabetically)
Bibliography
The Sussex Record Society 1901-2001
Notes Towards a History
Officers of the Society
Members of the Society
Publications
Index
