Oblong folio (13 1/2 x 19 1/4 in.) 340 x 490 mm. 31 lithographic plates, 13 1/4 x 18 1/4 in., with gold-printed frames and legend, some with one-or two-color stencil tinting, accompanied by additional plates of floor plans (spotting throughout, toning particularly to plates with floor plans, many with staining to margins). Original green cloth boards, gilt titles to front board: "Villas on the Hudson. / Turner" ( soil, split at front joint, occasional cloth loss atextremities). 

A visual record of the country residences owned by wealthy New Yorkers produced on the eve of the Civil War, containing images based on photographs taken by A.A. Turner during the late 1850s. This book is widely regarded as the first major published work featuring the new technology of photolithography in the United States.