UTI EMLÉKEZETEK AMERIKÁBÓL by Rosti, Pál - 1861

Pest: Kiadja Heckenast Gusztav, 1861. [6],198,[2]pp. printed in double columns, including in- text illustrations, plus sixteen plates, consisting of twelve tinted lithographs, color lithograph frontispiece and titlepage, one engraved plate, and one further color plate. Half title. Folio. Original three-quarter red morocco and cloth boards, spine gilt. Boards rubbed and slightly soiled. Corners and spine extremities worn, hinges reinforced. Contemporary ownership inscription on printed title page. Light foxing and tanning to text, plates with light dampstaining along top edge. Very good. A rare Hungarian account of a tour through the Caribbean, Mexico, and Latin America, lavishly illustrated with lithographs. Pál Rosti (1830-74), a Hungarian naturalist and pioneering photographer in Latin America, visited the Americas between 1856 and 1858, retracing the steps of Alexander Humboldt. His experiences are recorded in this wonderfully illustrated account. Rosti's observations contain useful documentation on social history, natural sciences, and ethnology. His visit to Venezuela was the first photographic register of the country. Humboldt visited Rosti to see the first photograph taken of the Samán de Güere and exclaimed that the tree was the same as when he and Bonpland had seen it some sixty years earlier in 1800. Humboldt died a few days later. The plates include a scene in the Plaza de Armas in Havana, a fine view of Caracas, Venezuelans at rest in the rain forest, the small village of San Juan de los Morros, and bamboo plants in Trinidad. The Mexican illustrations include the Plateau of Puebla, the Ravine of Santa Maria with the Orizava volcano in the distance, a large cathedral in Mexico City, Mount Popocatepetl, and the village of Pachuca. The several in-text illustrations add much in the way of details of the flora and fauna of the region, as well as local dress and customs. Rare and informative, with wonderful plates. PALAU 279201.