[DOSSIE (Robert)]. The Handmaid to the Arts, Vol. the First. Teaching, I. A perfect knowledge of the Materia Pictoria, or, the nature, use, preparation, and composition of all the various substances employed in painting, as well vehicles, dryers, &c...1764

London: Printed for J. Nourse, Second edition, 2 vols., 8vo (215 x 130 mm), xxvii, [9], 522, [10]; xiv, [14], 462, [x]pp., ownership signature torn away from outer upper bank margin of title page, final 3 leaves to vol. I and a couple of gathering from vol. II with waterstain tide mark (not unsightly), recent red half morocco, marbled boards, contrasting green morocco title label to spine, five raised bands, tooled in gilt. Robert Dossie (1717-1777) was a rigourous advocate for the advantages of improved public knowledge. With the publication of this work he provided information and instruction to the reader in a multitude of trades, many never before disclosed outside there trades. As a resource, it was well regarded by eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century artisans and became the standard work for practical techniques of that era.