Books and Manuscripts

Lear, Edward
Views in Rome and its Environs; Drawn from Nature and on Stone by Edward Lear
(London): Published by T. M'Lean, Printed by G. Hullmandel, 1841. First edition. Folio, 20 1/2 x 14 1/4 in. (521 x 362 mm). With hand-colored vignette lithographic title-page, lithographed List of Subjects, and 25 hand-colored lithographic plates, by Edward Lear. Modern three-quarter pebbled green leather over purple moire silk-covered boards, stamped in gilt; speckled red edges. Abbey, Travel 183; Ray 91

First edition of Edward Lear's first illustrated travel book. "Beginning in 1837 Lear spent several winters in Italy. Views in Rome records his first impressions of the land that was to become a second home to him. In these panoramic lithographs he is more concerned with the dramatic scenery around Rome than with the Holy City itself. Their freshness and ample size combine to make them his most successful topographical prints..." (Gordon Norton Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914, p. 59)