Search Results: Titles starting with P from Donald Heald Rare Books

[Leipzig: Schmidt and Guenther, 1922. Hand-coloured aquatint engraving by Talbot after Bodmer. From the scarce Leipzig edition printed from the original copper-plates. Limited in number, the prints from the Leipzig edition are more scarce than, and compare favorably to, the first edition. (David C. Hunt, "Karl Bodmer and the American Frontier," Imprint/Spring 85, p.1 A fine powerful portrait of a proud successful warrior. Bodmer and Prince Maximilian were introduced to this member of the Arikara tribe by Mató-Tópe ( a Mandan chief) in March 1834 whilst they overwintered at Fort Clark. Pachtüwa-Chtä had been a member of a war party that had attacked and killed three traders near the Heart River in 1830. He stands, armed with a gunstock club with a painted metal blade, his head adorned with symbols of his prowess in battle. Although there were many reports of the Arikara (or Arikaree), their hostility towards the whites ensured that they were only rarely encountered by either Bodmer or Maximilian.… Read More

Paris, Coblenz, and London, 1842. Hand-coloured aquatint engraving by Talbot after Bodmer, blindstamp. A fine powerful portrait of a proud successful warrior. Bodmer and Prince Maximilian were introduced to this member of the Arikara tribe by Mató-Tópe ( a Mandan chief) in March 1834 whilst they overwintered at Fort Clark. Pachtüwa-Chtä had been a member of a war party that had attacked and killed three traders near the Heart River in 1830. He stands, armed with a gunstock club with a painted metal blade, his head adorned with symbols of his prowess in battle. Although there were many reports of the Arikara (or Arikaree), their hostility towards the whites ensured that they were only rarely encountered by either Bodmer or Maximilian. In return for posing for his portrait Pachtüwa-Chtä asked for a picture of a bear against a forested background which he was probably going to employ as part of his personal medicine as an aid in either hunting or battle. Karl Bodmer's images show great versatility… Read More

Vienna: Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1856. 'Nature printed' in brown ink, with titling and imprint in black, by the Vienna Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. A beautiful example from "most important work produced by nature printing ever published" (Stafleu). To the modern eye this plate has an almost photographic beauty to it, which, in aesthetic terms, foreshadows the work of the great early-20th century photographers such as Man Ray. However, this achievement is almost certainly incidental as von Ettingshausen's intention was to present a detailed anatomical portrait using the highly exacting method of nature printing. John Lindley writes "Attempts were long since made to obtain Botanical portraits by printing from the plants themselves, flattened and otherwise prepared for the purpose... The process of the Imperial Printing Office [Hof- und Staatsdruckerei] at Vienna, to which the name of Nature-Printing has been happily applied.. is a great improvement upon the old method, inasmuch as it represents not only… Read More

London: William Miller, 1809. Hand-coloured aquatint engraving by J. Bluck after Henry Salt, on wove paper. Image size: 16 3/4 x 23 1/4 inches. A splendid aquatint portrait of the Great Pagoda of Thanjavur. Henry Salt, artist, traveller, diplomat and collector of antiquities, was born at Lichfield, Staffordshire, England 14 June 1780. He was destined to be a portrait-painter, and on leaving school was taught drawing by Glover, the watercolour-painter of Lichfield. In 1797 he went to London and became a pupil of Joseph Farington, R.A., and (in 1800) of John Hoppner, R.A. The turning point in his career was 3 June 1802, when Salt left London for an eastern tour with George, viscount Valentia (afterwards Lord Mountnorris), whom he accompanied as secretary and draughtsman. He visited the Cape, India, Sri Lanka, and (in 1805) Abyssinia, returning to England on 26 Oct. 1806. He made many drawings, some of which served to illustrate Lord Valentia's Voyages and Travels to India, published in 1809. The… Read More

Philadelphia: E. C. Biddle, 1855. Hand-colored lithograph. A fine image from McKenney and Hall's 'Indian Tribes of North America': `One of the most important [works] ever published on the American Indians' (Field),` a landmark in American culture' (Horan) and an invaluable contemporary record of a vanished way of life. Pashepahaw was a Sauk chieftain, known as the Stabber. He was a colleague and ally of Keokuk, and, therefore opposed to Black Hawk. When Pashepahaw visited Washington in 1824, McKenney asked about him and learned that he had been insulted by an Indian agent (one of McKenney's men) and had promised to kill the man. A medicine man named Taimah learned of this and, though quite ill, traveled a considerable distance to warn the agent, who was ready when Pashepahaw arrived, and thus a frontier war was prevented. Pashepahaw was forced to back down, but kept his hair long thereafter. He lived long enough to be painted as an old man by George Catlin, who called him "a very venerable old man."… Read More

Amsterdam and New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation and Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1971. Colour-printed lithograph, on fine hand-made paper. Excellent condition. Image size: 19 x 11 inches. Sheet size: 26 3/4 x 39 7/8 inches (approx). [Pl. 53]. In October 1971, employing the most faithful printing method available, the best materials and the ablest craftsmen of their age, the Amsterdam firm of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd., in conjunction with the Johnson Reprint Corporation of New York, set out to produce the finest possible limited edition facsimile of the greatest bird book ever printed: the Havell edition of John James Audubon's well-loved "Birds of America". The Curators of the Teyler's Museum in Haarlem, Holland made their copy of the original work available for use as a model. The Museum, founded in 1778, bought their copy through Audubon's son as part of the original subscription in 1839. After long deliberation, the extremely complex but highly accurate process of colour photo-lithography was… Read More

London: Published by J. Watts, Dealer in Prints & Drawings opposite the Mews Gate Charing Cross, 1778. Mezzotints. Printed on laid watermarked paper. In excellent condition. [Morning] Image size: 9 1/2 x 13 7/8 inches. Plate mark: 10 x 13 7/8 inches. Sheet size: 10 5/8 x 14 7/8 inches. [Evening] Image size: 9 3/8 x 13 7/8. Plate mark: 9 7/8 x 13 7/8. Sheet size: 10 3/4 x 15 1/8 inches. This is a stunning pair of mezzotints of two hunting dogs catching their quarry, by John Watts after paintings by Abraham Hondius. Watts was a successful printmaker and publisher who was active in London during the second half of the eighteenth century. He was famed for his rich mezzotints, which he exhibited in London between 1766 and 1778. Watts scraped mezzotints after some of the most renowned artists of his day, but he had a special penchant for works by the Dutch masters, such as this handsome pair after Abraham Hondius, the celebrated Dutch animal painter. These rich mezzotints are a superb example of Watts's… Read More

Oxford, 1733. Engravings. Both printed on watermarked laid paper.["The North Prospect of the New Quadrangle of Christs Church in Oxford"] In excellent condition with the exception of being trimmed slightly along the left margin within the image. Left margin has been remargined with contemporary paper. Trimmed along upper margin and remargined with contemporary paper. Three creases within image where it was folded into a book. Faint off-setting. Small tear in bottom margin, and small tear along upper crease. Sheet size: 18 x 22 3/4 inches. ["The South Prospect of the New Quadrangle of Christs Church in Oxford"] In excellent condition with the exception of being trimmed slightly along the left margin within the image. Left margin has been remargined with contemporary paper. Trimmed along upper margin and remargined with contemporary paper. Three creases within image where it was folded into a book. Faint off-setting. Sheet size: 18 x 22 7/8 inches. A pair of striking views of Christ Church college,… Read More

London: J. Webber, 1784. Oval stipple-engraved portraits, by Bartolozzi after Webber. Image sizes approx. 5 x 4 inches, sheet sizes approx. 8 3/4 x 6 5/8 inches. Trimmed to or just within the platemark. Rare separately-issued portraits of Cook and King after third voyage expedition artist John Webber. The original portrait of Cook was painted by Webber in 1776 and has been in the National Portrait Gallery in London since 1858. Webber had collaborated with Bartolozzi earlier in 1784 to execute his famous depiction of the death of Cook and here published this pair of portraits. These portraits are the only ones engraved by Bartolozzi, the most accomplished stipple-engraver of the period, and the portrait of King is the only separately-issued depiction of the surviving commander of the third voyage. Beddie 3600 and 4515; Joppien & Smith 3.451 and 3.456.

[Late 17th or early 18th century]. Gouache over graphite, on fine prepared vellum. Sheet size: 6 5/8 x 9 inches, each. Archivally mounted and framed. A lovely pair of vellum paintings. Cradock was born at Somerton, near Ilchester, in Somerset in about 1660. He was apprenticed to a house painter in London, but at the end of the apprenticeship turned to painting animals, birds and still life. He generally preferred working for a daily rate or for dealers, as opposed to wealthy patrons. His works are known to have been primarily used for interior decoration. Walpole praised some of his work, and examples are included in Lord Derby's famous collection at Knowsley and the Yale Centre for British Art. Christine Jackson notes that "He was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the best animal painters of his time." C. Jackson Dictionary of Bird Artists of the World, p.208; Vertue Notebooks I, Walpole Society, vol.18, 1930, p.80.

London: Printed and sold for Bowles & Carver, at their Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69 in St. Paul's Church Yard, 1755. Hand-coloured engraving. Printed on laid paper. In excellent condition. Framed in a handsome gold-leaf frame with a gold washline mount. Image size: 8 x 16 1/2 inches. A magnificent view of a water-fountain display in the gardens of St. Cloud Palace outside Paris, by the celebrated engraver Jacques Rigaud. Towards the middle of the eighteenth century a market developed among English and European travelers and vicarious travelers for prints of the picturesque places in prominent countries. Sparked by a sense of national confidence and patriotism, artists and printmakers began to publish topographical prints of these important sights and architectural attractions. These prints in turn encouraged wider public recognition of and pride in the national treasures. Jacques Rigaud made a name for himself in both France and England as one of the most accomplished landscape engravers. He… Read More

[London: E. Lear, 1832. Hand-coloured lithograph, printed by Charles Hullmandel. Wove paper. A fine example of the work of "perhaps the greatest draughtsman of birds in European culture." (Philip Hofer) This image is from Lear's masterpiece: "Illustrations of the Family Psittacidae, or Parrots," a work that combines "the most exacting scientific naturalism with a masterly sense of design and intuitive sympathy for animal intelligence." (Susan Hyman, "Edward Lear's Birds", 1980) This beautiful image is from Lear's first published work, limited to 175 copies, the first English ornithological work published in folio format with lithographic plates. Lear began work on this monograph when he was only eighteen and carefully supervised every step of the publication. He made many of his original sketches from the live specimens at the Regent's Park Zoological Gardens. Christine Jackson describes Lear's painstaking approach to his work: "Lear worked in great detail, outlining every feather and filling in the… Read More

[New York]: G & C & H Carvill, 1828. First state of two. Aquatint, coloured by hand, by John Hill, after W.G. Wall. "William Guy Wall shows us the Palisades in their stark splendor, allowing very little animation in his riverscape to detract from the majesty of the natural wonder. Sailboats, dwarfed by the height of the bluffs, are reflected in the water, as is the towering stone wall." (Deak, 321) In the summer of 1820 the Irish-born and trained landscape artist William Guy Wall (1792-after 1864) went on an extended sketching tour of the Hudson River Valley and its environs. A selection of Wall's watercolors recording sights on his tour was engraved by the master printmaker John Hill (1770-1850) in The Hudson River Portfolio, published in New York City by Henry J. Megarey between 1821 and 1825. Long considered a cornerstone in the development of American printmaking and landscape painting, its twenty topographical views cover roughly 212 miles of the 315-mile course of the Hudson River. This… Read More

Amsterdam and New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation and Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1971. Colour-printed lithograph, on fine hand-made paper. Excellent condition. Image size: 19 x 11 1/2 inches. Sheet size: 26 3/4 x 39 7/8 inches (approx). [Pl. 163]. In October 1971, employing the most faithful printing method available, the best materials and the ablest craftsmen of their age, the Amsterdam firm of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Ltd., in conjunction with the Johnson Reprint Corporation of New York, set out to produce the finest possible limited edition facsimile of the greatest bird book ever printed: the Havell edition of John James Audubon's well-loved "Birds of America". The Curators of the Teyler's Museum in Haarlem, Holland made their copy of the original work available for use as a model. The Museum, founded in 1778, bought their copy through Audubon's son as part of the original subscription in 1839. After long deliberation, the extremely complex but highly accurate process of colour photo-lithography… Read More

Washington D.C.: Published by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1922. Large folding nautical chart, printed on heavy paper stock. Colored. A rare original coastal survey of the Pamlico Sound including Portsmouth Island, Ocracoke, Cedar Island, Neuse River, Goose Creek Island, and a miniature map of the continuation of Bay River on the top border. Established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey was the United States' first civilian scientific agency. This agency has followed its mission to survey the U.S. coastline, create nautical charts of the coast, and help increase maritime safety since its founding, and has often played fascinating roles in significant chapters of U.S. history. It served in all theaters of the Civil War in the service of the Union Army and Navy, pioneered acoustic exploration in the wake of the sinking of the Titanic, and during WWI it worked to detect enemy submarines. In addition, this agency worked… Read More

Washington D.C.: Published by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1920. Large folding nautical chart, printed on heavy paper stock. Colored. A rare original coastal survey of the Pamlico River including Washington, Aurora, Bath, and the Tar River. Established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey was the United States' first civilian scientific agency. This agency has followed its mission to survey the U.S. coastline, create nautical charts of the coast, and help increase maritime safety since its founding, and has often played fascinating roles in significant chapters of U.S. history. It served in all theaters of the Civil War in the service of the Union Army and Navy, pioneered acoustic exploration in the wake of the sinking of the Titanic, and during WWI it worked to detect enemy submarines. In addition, this agency worked to survey and produce detailed maps and renderings of the U.S. coast. These nautical survey maps… Read More

London: Published by Robert Sayer, 1790. Hand-coloured mezzotint. State vi/viii. A remarkable portrait of Lord Grosvenor's Pangloss, by the master equine painter George Stubbs. George Stubbs is considered to be one of the greatest English painters. His ingenious animal and sporting pictures remain unrivalled in their passionate depiction of emotion and their commitment to naturalistic observation. Stubbs was briefly apprenticed to the painter Hamlet Winstanley, a relationship that quickly ended, leaving the young artist to his own education. In contrast to contemporary academic theory, Stubbs attached great importance to the belief that art should imitate nature, not the work of other artists. He spent years carefully studying human and equine anatomy so that he could truthfully represent natural form and movement. A result of this study was his famous Anatomy of the Horse, which details, with beautiful engraving, the various elements of a horse's anatomy, from skeletal form to muscular definition.… Read More

Munich, 1858. Overall size: 20 3/4 x 178 inches. 11 large-format collodion dry plate photographs, mounted on card accordion-style with linen joints to form a 360 degree panoramic view of Munich, titled on the mount below the image and with the photographer's name in contemporary manuscript at the lower right. Fold into a cloth chemise within morocco-backed box with gilt spine and raised bands Among the earliest photographic panoramic city views ever accomplished. Taken from the tower of St. Peter's Church on the occasion of the 700 anniversary of the city, Böttger's panorama is the first such panoramic photograph of Munich. Georg Böttger began his career as an engraver and lithographer, taking up photography around 1850. His earliest photographic works were portraits and architectural studies, particularly monuments dedicated to Ludwig I and II. In 1854, he participated in the Deutsche Industrieausstellung and taught photography and sold photographic equipment. In the 1860s he documented bridge… Read More

New York: H. Schile, 1882. Hand-colored lithograph. Sheet size: 22 3/4 x 28 3/4 inches. A rare panoramic view of the Catskills. A rare panoramic view of the Catskills surrounded by six vignettes of Horse-Shoe Bend Viewed from Summit, Pine Hill, Ulster County Viewed from Summit, Delaware County Viewed from the Summit, Horse-Shoe Bend, and Belle Ayre Mountain & Pine Hill Station. The central view shows six mountain peaks from Mount Hope. This lithograph may have been commissioned as a promotional view by the Ulster and Delaware Railroad, which in 1881 constructed the Grand Hotel on Monka Hill, visible in the vignettes at upper and lower center. Further, all six vignettes include the Railroads passenger trains, always set against a backdrop of steeply-forested mountainsides, and conveying the impression of a wilderness only recently made accessible to the average traveler. Peters, America on Stone p. 358.

Vienna: Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1856. 'Nature printed' in brown ink, with titling and imprint in black, by the Vienna Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. A beautiful example from "most important work produced by nature printing ever published" (Stafleu). To the modern eye this plate has an almost photographic beauty to it, which, in aesthetic terms, foreshadows the work of the great early-20th century photographers such as Man Ray. However, this achievement is almost certainly incidental as von Ettingshausen's intention was to present a detailed anatomical portrait using the highly exacting method of nature printing. John Lindley writes "Attempts were long since made to obtain Botanical portraits by printing from the plants themselves, flattened and otherwise prepared for the purpose... The process of the Imperial Printing Office [Hof- und Staatsdruckerei] at Vienna, to which the name of Nature-Printing has been happily applied.. is a great improvement upon the old method, inasmuch as it represents not only… Read More