Six Etchings from Sketches by Mr. O’Neill, of the Ruins of the late Fire at Christ Church, Oxford. To which is prefixed some Account of the Fire, and the Buildings injured by it

First edition: Crotch's first published set of etchings, 'made with the help of the London engraver John Girtin and published by Crotch's brother-in-law Robert Bliss, jr, in Oxford; the topicality of the event gave interest to the set, which was widely advertised at 12s., or 26s. on India paper, and was sold in London' (Alexander, Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Engravers, p. 253). Crotch the composer was also remarkable as an artist, exhibiting a number of times at the Royal Academy. He had drawn since childhood, and in Oxford became acquainted with the drawing master John Malchair (c.17301812), a fellow musician, and it has been argued that 'Malchair's teachings found their most influential advocate in Oxford's Professor of Music, William Crotch, who passed on the old man's theories to someone who could put them to best advantageJohn Constable. Because of their mutual interest in both music and art, Malchair and Crotch became firm friends, and they discussed every possible aspect of Malchair's theories. When Crotch arrived in London, he met Constable (around 1806), and this friendship, too, soon developed [They] both came from the eastern counties, and although Crotch had not been brought up in the country, as Constable had, he was nevertheless strongly attracted to the small cottages and village churches, the cornfields and the oak trees, and the infinitely variable aspects of the sky, which formed the ever-recurring themes of both men's artistic work' (Rennert, William Crotch: Composer, Artist, Teacher, p. 94). The fire had broken out in buildings on Christ Church's Tom Quad on the night of 34 March 1809; so fierce was the blaze that there were fears for both the Hall and Tom Tower. 'The whole property was consumed with the exception of some books and manuscripts, which, being kept in a room on the ground floor, were rescued from the flames, (as it was reported,) through the exertions of a person acquainted with their value and situation' (p. [3]). Small folio (352 × 265 mm), pp. 6, [2], plus an engraved plan by Girtin and 6 etchings by Crotch, one in two states, all prepared by Girtin, numbered 14, '4', 56; slightly creased in places, the title and final blank page finger-marked/soiled and a little ragged, the plates likewise finger-soiled, short tear to the lower corner of two plates, marginal inkstain to five of them, the final plate a little dusty and ragged (old tape repairs to verso), lower left-hand corner torn away, not touching the image; stitched as issued and preserved in a paper wrapper, with remains of the original front cover, with printed paper label, laid down.