New South Wales, Australia just a little while ago. Plates from the second edition of David Collins’s “An account of the English Colony in New South Wales, from its first settlement in January 1788 to August, 1801. Published in London in 1804.
Category: Plates (llustrations) from books
More visions of the Arctic, these from 1824 and of the native Eskimaux. William Edward Parry’s “Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific; Performed in the years 1821-22-23 in His Majesty’s Ships “Fury” and “Hecla.” (Captain Parry’s journal) Published in London.
Not sure how accurate these are but very early.
Landscapes of a Levant that isn’t coming back. Colored lithographic plates from C. W. M. Van de Velde’s 1857 work “Le Pays d’Israel.” All of the landscapes are of what was then part of the Ottoman province of Syria.
Images of the polar sea from back when the arctic was the last frontier. Taken from Edward L. Moss’s work “Shores of the Polar Sea: A Narrative of the Arctic Expedition of 1875–6.” Published in London in 1878.
Sir Edward L. Moss was an artist and esteemed Royal Navy Surgeon, was part of the expedition and recorded this journey from his first-hand seat in the belly of HMS Alert . So a double role. All these expeditions included an artist.
More tropical plants, these taken from Christoph Jacob Trew and Georg Dionysius Ehret’s “Plantae Selectae quarum imagines ad exemplaria naturalia Londini in hortus curiosorum”, published in Nuremberg, Germany. These being from the first edition so ca. 1750. Taken from a recent Sotheby’s catalog. All are part of the same lot.
Flower (and avocado) pictures from different volumes of “L’illustration horticole journal special des serres et des jardins” by Charles Lemaire, Jean Jules Linden, Ambroise Verschaffelt, et al which came out between 1854 and the 1890s. Part of a recent Sotheby’s Auction.
Victorian era animal pictures, taken from the 1840s “The Naturalist’s Library” which was edited by Sir William Jardine. Hand-colored engraved plates by W. H. Lizars. Taken from a current Sotheby’s auction.
Travel to India and back by the Cape Horn route on a sailing ship back in 1859 if only in your mind. Lithographic plates from John Corbet Anderson’s 1859 work “To India and back by the Cape” which was a self-published guide book for adventurous travelers.
Make your new house look very old even if it is new. Decor ideas from back in time, taken from H. Davis Benn’s work “Style in furniture” which was illustrated by W. C. Baldock. Published in London in 1920.
More plates in gold and pretty colors from “Historic Styles Of Ornament containing 1,500 examples from all countries.” Translated from the original German of H. Dolmetsch and published by B. T. Batsford in London in 1898. Maybe it looked like this in Ancient Greece, maybe not. Either way they are fun.
