FIRST EDITION. “A magnificent series of plates, almost all of equal quality. Valuable as a record and exquisite in its presentation. THE MOST IMPORTANT COLOUR PLATE BOOK ON BRITISH TOPOGRAPHY” (Tooley). A fine tall example in very good binding. This work began in the summer of 1813 at Land’s-End in Cornwall and worked its way clockwise around the entire British Isles. Accompanying the artist William Daniell was the writer Richard Ayton with whom Daniell would fall out. Ayton contributed the letterpress of the first two volumes only. William Daniell (1769-1837) was born in Kingston-upon-Thames. On the death of his father in 1779 he went to live with his uncle, the landscape artist Thomas Daniell (1749-1840) and the course of his life was altered. At fourteen he accompanied his uncle to India and spent the next ten years travelling, painting and selling high quality engravings. The crowning glory of this period was the ‘Oriental Scenery’ published 1795-1808 with 144 superb hand coloured aquatints. This monumental work cost £210 at the time.

The ‘Voyages Round Great Britain’ was William Daniell’s next great project, he spent the summers of 1813-23 travelling various sections of the coast seeking places of interest to draw. For many of the locations they are the only record of them during the period. It was published in parts between 1814 and 1825 and the completed work cost £60. Although this book is found in a limited edition with the plates issued on card, in this book’s case this issue on paper is the preferred. In 1962 306 of the original copper plates were discovered and they now reside in the Tate Gallery. “They are a monument to his industry and his unsurpassed skill in handling the remarkable delicacy of the aquatint process” (Wikipedia). Provenance: bookplates of Christopher Turnor, Stoke Rochford Library and Hermann Marx. Abbey Scenery 16; ODNB; Tooley 177.