One of the Earliest and Best of bBoks with Coloured Aquatints

James Malton

A Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin, Described in a Series of the Most Interesting Scenes Taken in the Year 1791

Description

A Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin, Described in a Series of the Most Interesting Scenes Taken in the Year 1791 James Malton: after 1799, c. 1818 [watermarked text 1802-1811, plates 1809-1817]  FIRST EDITION. Oblong Folio (45 x 57.5 cm). Engraved title-page, engraved arms of the City of Dublin (dated 1792), engraved dedication (dated 1794), 2 uncoloured aquatint plans, engraved key plate, 25 hand-coloured engraved plates by James Malton, uncoloured aquatint vignette on the recto of descriptive text leaves. Internally mostly clean and unmarked, minor occasional spotting to text, mostly on dedication; occasional light offsetting to text; plates clean and very bright; marbled endpapers. Original marbled boards; minor shelf-wear to covers and corners; printed title label on upper cover (with “Price £10:10:0”); rebacked; in slipcase with gilt title on cover.  Rare and an exceptionally fine and large copy. Abbey 374, coloured copy; Tooley 315. Hardie in English Coloured Books writes that this “is one of the earliest and best of books with coloured aquatints… Malton as a topographical draughtsman had few equals, and the plates… have a distinction of their own in addition to their value as an architectural record.”