BAKER'S BOOK ON WILLIAM SHARP, ENGRAVER

An additional William S. Baker's authored work is titled "William Sharp Engraver With A Descriptive Catalogue Of His Works". Sharp was born in London January 29th, 1749 and died at Chiswick July 25th, 1824. The rather obscure book has red pebbled cloth, 231 pages and a frontispiece portrait of Sharp dated 1817. In the first part of the book Baker presents a 30 page brief overview of Sharp's life and then highlights a number of his engravings. The second part gives a descriptive list of his 231 engravings. While the book's major numismatic connection is the author, it should be noted he engraved portraits of George Washington, Commander in Chief and Matthew Boulton. Baker praised Sharp's talent saying, "William Sharp stands unrivalled in the English, and the equal of the best portrait engravers of any school." This particular volume is inscribed on the half-title page "Clarence S. Bement from W.S. Baker". Today Bement is remembered for the quality and scope of his collection that was sold at auction by Henry Chapman.

 

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
GEORGE WASHINGTON TRIBUTES (https://www.coinbooks.org/v26/esylum_v26n08a04.html)

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