AMERICAN SCENERY, Illustrated. by Richards, T. Addison - 1854

(Printed by Billin & Bros. for) Leavitt & Allen, New York: []., 1854 310 p. + 32 Plates: steel-engraved frontispiece, title-page, and 30 steel-engraved plates. Plates considerably foxed. Elaborate publisher's red morocco leather gift binding, tooled in blind; With a diamond shaped inset blue leather title piece, elaborately tooled and lettered in gold gilt. Binding worn at the extremities, but still attractive. Inked manuscript ownership of: Mrs. Laura W. Fells, Carlisle, Cumberland County, PA. April 21, 1859. This work was also published under the title, 'The Romance of American Landscape.' Sabin 70958; Wright, II, 2030. "During the first half of the nineteenth century artists fanned out across the northeastern United States to find aesthetic inspiration in nature (and historic architecture). Thomas Addison Richards (1820-1900) was one of the few who traveled extensively in the South. Through his paintings, illustrated magazine articles, and guidebooks, Richards introduced the natural beauty and distinct characteristics of this region to a national audience. Born in London, his family immigrated to America in 1831, moving first to Hudson, New York, and then to Charleston, South Carolina. Around 1837 they settled in the small town of Penfield, Georgia, the original site of Mercer University, where Richards's father, a Baptist minister, served as a charter trustee. In 1838 the young Richards left for Augusta, where for the next two years he offered lessons in painting and drawing and contributed travelogues about his rambles around Georgia to the Augusta Mirror, a local literary magazine. In 1841, sketchbook in hand, he left Augusta to travel around the South in search of picturesque scenes. In 1844 he settled permanently in New York City, where he gave art lessons from his studio and began taking classes at the National Academy of Design. He subsequently became a full academician and served as the institution's corresponding secretary from 1852 to 1892. Many of the paintings he regularly contributed to academy exhibitions were romantic landscapes of the South. Throughout the 1850s Richards penned numerous articles and books. He supplied illustrated articles based on his travels around the Northeast to Graham's Magazine (Philadelphia) and the Knickerbocker (New York). For the weekly Southern Literary Gazette, published by his brother out of Athens, Georgia, and Harper's New Monthly Magazine (New York), he submitted essays on his travels through the South. Richards enlivened his travelogues with personal anecdotes, legendary stories, tips on lodging, and engravings after his on-site drawings. In1854 a series of engravings after Richards's southern sketches appeared in Romance of American Landscape / American Scenery. In 1857 Richards married Mary E. Anthony, an author of children's stories. Thereafter, Richards concentrated on teaching and painting. He served as the first director of the Cooper Union School of Design for Women in New York, a position he held from 1858 to 1860, and taught at New York University from 1867 to 1887. At the National Academy and Brooklyn Art Association he exhibited still lifes and landscapes, often of tranquil southern scenes. **PRICE JUST REDUCED! NW 45 BINDINGS. Full Leather. Hardcover. Very Good.