Simon Beattie
Lithographic books
December 2015
01. [BRUNEL, Marc Isambard]. LÖHMANN, Friedrich. [Cover
title:] Die Fahrstrasse unter dem Wasser oder Beschreibung
der grossen Unternehmung des von Herrn M. J. Brunel so eben
auszuführenden Baues eines doppelten Fahrweges unter dem
Bette der Themse zu London. Nach einem englischen Original frei
bearbeitet … Mit 5 lithographirten Zeichnungen. Leipzig 1825. bei
Friedrich Fleischer und bei dem Heraugeber in Dresden.
Oblong 4to (200 × 260 mm), pp. [4] and 5 lithograph plates (the last of
which folding) by Kretzschmar (printed by J. H. G. Rau in Dresden);
original lithographed wrappers (also by Rau), a few stains to the front
cover.
£950
First edition, very rare. Marc Brunel’s Thames Tunnel—the first
underwater tunnel in the world—aroused enormous interest in Europe as
much as in Britain, as demonstrated by the present work, probably the
first European publication on the Tunnel. The first account of the
project, A New Plan of Tunnelling, calculated for Opening a Roadway
under the Thames, was written by Brunel himself and published in 1823,
nearly a year before the authorizing act was passed. This is a German
translation of that pamphlet (caption title: ‘Plan zu Führung eines
unterirdischen Gewölbes, welches eine doppelte Strasse under dem
Bette der Themse bilden soll’); Brunel’s own words are translated in full
together with lithograph reproductions of the plates.
The German translation appears to be even rarer than the original
English (of which only 500 copies were produced). It is not listed in
COPAC, and WorldCat locates no copies outside the Continent.
02. [GULSTON, Josepha Heath]. The Goblin’s Moonlight
Walk. Written and illustrated by J. G. London: James Izzard …
1844.
Small 4to (229 × 186 mm), pp. 9, [1]; with 6 lithographed plates (‘J. G.
invt. & lith.’), printed on tinted paper; title printed in red and black, on
glazed paper; leaves loose in the original illustrated wrappers, all edges
gilt, spine skilfully restored.
£400
First edition: a charming illustrated tale of a mischievous goblin—‘in form
as a small and dwarfish Man, but his Head was as that of a Cat’—who
one night leads a miller, worse the wear for drink, through a stream, a
thicket, and a bog, before leaving him breathless, tattered, and muddy
come the morning. ‘Now, ye who list, a Moral read and learn, / That
through this World ye do walk Soberly, / Lest Goblin Sprites your Steps
with Malice turn, / From Paths of Peace to Paths disorderly …’ (p. 9).
Gulston, from Llandeilo, Carmarthenshire, went on to publish a handful
of novels in the 1850s under the name ‘Talbot Gwynne’.
See the tailpiece at the end of this list for an example of the illustrations.
03. HULLMANDEL, Charles Joseph. Picturesque Views of
ancient castellated Mansions in Scotland. Drawn on Stone by
C. Hullmandel, from Sketches taken on the Spot. Dedicated by
Permission to the Marchioness of Stafford. No. 1 [– No. 4].
London. Published by C. Hullmandel … & R. Ackermann … C.
Hullmandel’s Lithography. [1830?–1833.]
Four fascicles each of five views (complete), large folio (430 × 340 mm),
most with original tissue guards; very small light stain to blank margin in
Nos. 1 and 3, occasional minor marginal spotting, but basically a fine
set, stitched in the original buff printed wrappers, slightly frayed, spines
perished, with the number and the price (15s.) added to the wrappers by
hand.
£3500
First and only edition, a rare survival in the original parts. The views,
most ‘drawn from nature’, comprise: Crathes (2), Castle Fraser (2),
Cluney (later rebuilt), Craigevar, Dunrobin Castle, Castle of Fyrie [Fyvie]
(2), Midmar, Bruntsfield Manor House, Drum, Westhall, Glamis Castle,
Pitcaple, Tolquhon (damaged then, now a ruin) (2), Elcho Castle, Castle
Stuart, and Craigston. Thirteen were drawn as well as lithographed by
Hullmandel himself, the others lithographed by him from views drawn by
James Giles, Mr. Irvine, and I. Skene. The first two parts seem to have
appeared in 1830. A printed slip in No. 4 informs subscribers ‘that the
present Number concludes the Work’ and is dated January 1833.
The plate of Dunrobin Castle is very impressive, sketched by Hullmandel
from a stormy Moray Firth. This was the seat of the Marchioness of
Stafford (afterwards Duchess of Sutherland) to whom Picturesque Views
is dedicated.
On returning from a continental tour, Charles Joseph Hullmandel (1789–
1850) met the inventor of lithography Alois Senenfelder in Munich.
‘Back in London, he began drawing on stone and, later, printing from it.’
By the 1820s ‘he had established himself as the finest lithographic
printer in Britain’ and over the next years became ‘the most prolific
printer of pictorial lithographs in the country.’ Among artists who had
their lithographs printed at his press was Edward Lear. Hullmandel was
a friend of Michael Faraday, and, when Faraday lectured on lithography
at the Royal Institution, he provided the accompanying demonstration
(Michael Twyman, Oxford DNB and Early Lithographed Books, p. 78).
Rare: COPAC and OCLC list copies at NLS and Smith College only,
both wanting the wrappers (and hence the title). Not in Abbey, Scenery.
Scott had a copy, listed in the Abbotsford catalogue in 1838 as still at the
binder’s.
04. INSTRUCTIONS for Brewing Irish Porter & Stout. London,
Printed and Published by Alexander Goodbrand … 1872.
Small 4to (205 × 165 mm), pp. [2], 49, [1]; small stain to fore-edge (text
affected), and some light marginal foxing to prelims and endleaves;
contemporary full red blind-tooled sheep, marbled endpapers, green
edges; boards a little bowed and scuffed at extremities, spine lightly
sunned; occasional contemporary ms. annotations.
£650
First edition, extremely scarce, of a fascinating treatise on the production
of Irish-style beer, an anonymous contemporary manuscript reproduced
in lithograph.
The preface gives a view of the beer drinking in mid-nineteenth century
Britain and Ireland, and points to the rise in popularity of Irish beer in
London. It debunks the notion that Dublin beer’s distinctiveness is
derived from local water, citing the poor quality of some beer made in
that city and the fact that there is no one water source or standardisation
of water. The author’s argument is that quality beer may be produced
anywhere, provided the ingredients and method are sound.
The manual explains that ‘the process of brewing Irish porters and stouts
differs very materially from the London, or English system’. The
difference lies not only in variation of materials, but also in process,
outlined herein; every component of ingredients and technique is
discussed, particularly the merits of using different types and proportions
of malt, and tables of temperatures and quantities are produced for
exactitude. Brewing manuals and treatises of the period tend to focus
on Scottish and English stouts and porters, so this considered view of
the Irish style—in a remarkably elegant format—is particularly
interesting.
The contemporary annotations blend with the cursive lithographic text,
and supplement the content with intriguing comments and suggestions,
including alternative temperatures. They seem to be the work of an
early owner, who in a note at the end critiques syntax and grammar,
while failing to find fault with the method.
Not in Twyman. COPAC and WorldCat record three copies only:
National Library of Scotland, Bodley, and Cambridge.
05. MORLEY, Frances Parker, Dowager Countess of. The
Flying Burgermaster: A Legend of the Black Forest … F. Morley
invt et sculpt. 1832.
8vo (211 × 130 mm), ff. 14, plus lithographed title, frontispiece and 14
plates; some light foxing; contemporary red calf, ruled and lettered gilt,
spine and corners a little scuffed; ink inscription (dated 1882) to front
free endpaper, noting that the book was a gift from Lady Charlotte
Lyster, daughter of the sixth Earl of Shaftesbury (1799–1889).
£300
First edition, privately printed. A macabre Netherlandish folktale of
possessed limbs and murder rendered into English verse by Frances
Parker, Dowager Countess of Morley (1781–1857).
In rollicking couplets, Morley describes an ill-fated traveller who, finding
himself in a dark forest on a stormy night encounters a terrifying flying
skeleton. This proves to be the cursed remains of Rotterdam
burgomaster Dirk von Wodenblock, wronged in life by ‘the great artificer
of Dort’, the mechanic and sorcerer Turningvort.
The story goes that, after losing his right leg to amputation, Wodenblock
commissioned Turningvort to craft a new cork limb, with his lovely
daughter’s hand in marriage as payment. Initially the prosthetic
surpasses all expectations, but soon exhibits a frightening life of its own
and drags Wodenblock across the country, away from his ailing wife and
family to Haarlem. Realising he is likely to be branded a murderer,
Turningvort drowns himself in the Great Canal, but there is no such
respite for Wodenblock; ‘the desperate leg still whirls along, itself
unchanged, plump, active, strong’.
The detailed lithograph illustrations, done by the author herself, show
significant skill in depictions of costume and architectural detail,
including splendid representations of Haarlem. Despite the depressing
tale, Wodenblock’s skeletal presence is rather jaunty, especially in a
vignette on the title-page in which he wears his burgomaster’s hat, with a
quotation from Macbeth beneath.
Martin, Privately Printed Books, p. 430 (included to prevent its ‘escaping
the notice of some future Horace Walpole, in a new edition of Noble
Authors … the wit and talents of this distinguished Lady, so universally
known, entitle [it] to be recorded’). Not in Twyman.
‘PRINTED IN BLACK LEAD PENCIL’
06. OUR CHILDREN: sketched from Nature in Pencil and
Verse. Dean & Son … London … [1867].
8vo (245 × 177 mm), pp. [60]; minimal light foxing in places; original
green publisher’s cloth, stamped in blind and gilt, neatly rebacked
preserving the majority of the original spine, corners worn; inscribed
‘Lousia Maude Younge with love from her affectionate Godmother Jane
Y Hadden July 6th, 1867’ on the front free endpaper.
£550
First edition, dedicated ‘To our Nieces
and Nephews … by their loving Aunts, M.
& I.’. ‘The following Sketches were taken
from time to time, without any view of
publication; but finding that other children
besides the originals were amused with
looking at them, I thought that, by adding
some rhymes … these Sketches might be
welcome in other nurseries besides those
to which they owe their origin’ (Preface).
The book was advertised in The
Publishers’ Circular on 15 December
1866 as ‘Imp. 8vo, printed in Black Lead
Pencil on Toned Paper, 3s. Our Children,
Sketched from Nature in Lead Pencil and
Verse. By Mrs. C. [sic]’, but there seems
to have been a delay in production, as
reviews, e.g. The Specator (‘An
unpretending little volume …’), do not
appear until May 1867. The printing
process of ‘black lead pencil’ appears to be lithography printed with a
silvery ink that glitters slightly like graphite.
WorldCat locates 3 copies only (BL, Cambridge, National Library of
Scotland).
07. PASLEY, Charles William. Tables of Charges of Military
Mines compiled from Colonel Pasley’s Rules deduced by him
chiefly from actual experiments. Lithographed at the Royal
Engineer Establishment Chatham, 1851. [With:]
[Drop-head title:] Words of Command for Escalading … Royal
Engineer Establishment Chatham 1851.
Tables of Charges: 8vo (224 × 142 mm), pp. [2], 7, [1]; stab-sewn, as
issued; horizontal crease where previously folded. Words of Command:
small 4to sheet (283 × 220 mm), printed on recto only; creased where
previously folded.
Together: £200
The Royal School of Military Engineering as it is now called was founded
in 1812 and its first Director, the Scottish army officer Charles William
Pasley (1780–1861) played ‘a seminal role’ in its early development.
‘Precisely when and under what circumstances the press of the Royal
Engineer Establishment was set up at Chatham is not clear, but the first
of its products that have been traced date from 1822 … Whatever the
circumstances, however, it is hard to imagine that Pasley took a back
seat. He had already proved himself to be an innovator and energetic
organizer, and some of the very first productions of the Chatham press
were written by him’ (Twyman, Early Lithographed Books, p. 61).
Twyman lists 39 productions from Pasley’s lithograph press before 1877,
but neither of these two items. Not found in COPAC or WorldCat.
‘A NEW AMERICAN INVENTION’
08. SCHWARZENBERG, Paul. Preise der Ballone und
Aerostatischer Figuren … [Germany, c.1830.]
Folio broadside (455 × 265 mm), large lithographed illustration and
letterpress text; creased where previously folded.
£1200
Paul Schwarzenberg appears in various German newspapers of the
period as a kind of circus act (the self-styled ‘Russian Fire King’), but
here offers for sale a variety of shaped balloons ‘of a new American
invention’ made from goldbeater’s skin (the outer membrane of a calf’s
large intestine, so called because it was ‘employed to separate the
leaves of gold-foil during the operation of beating’, OED). He suggests
blowing them up with hydrogen for use outside, ordinary air if using them
indoors. There follows a description of exactly how to inflate them, by
means of two barrels and a mixture of zinc, water and sulphuric acid;
this is also illustrated in the lithograph.
The shapes of the balloons themselves range from animals (horse, dog,
stag) to more elaborate forms (mermen, centaur, Pegasus, Poseidon in
his chariot, etc). According to the broadside, the balloons can last as
long as 12–15 years if looked after properly.
PEASANT LIFE IN NORWAY
09. TIDEMAND, Adolph. Bondeliv i Norge … Med Text af A.
Munch. Med Kongelig naadigst Tilladelse udfört efter
Originalmalerierne paa Oscarshal. Udgivet af Chr. Tønsberg.
Christiania. Udgiverens Forlag. Trykt hos H. Tønsberg. [1861.]
Oblong folio (265 × 345 mm); pp. [28], with 10 full-page tinted
lithographs by Bærentzen & Cie, one in colour; some light browning to
the text leaves, largely in the margins; original half roan, cloth sides,
upper cover lettered gilt; early ownership inscription, dated 1879,
Oscarshall.
£600
First edition of a multi-lingual commemorative volume, which
lithographically reproduces Adolph Tidemand’s paintings for the
Norwegian royal palace of Oscarshall.
Tidemand (1814–1876)—whose detailed studies of the costume,
buildings and customs of rural Norway placed him at the forefront of that
country’s Romantic Nationalist movement—was commissioned by Oskar
I to paint a series of Norwegian peasant life for the neo-Gothic palace of
Oscarshall, near Christiania.
Illustrating the life of a typical Norwegian farming couple from cradle to
grave, the ten plates correspond to the paintings: ‘The Children at the
Chalet’, ‘The Courtship’, ‘The Bridal Procession’, ‘Domestic Happiness’,
‘Family-Distress’, ‘The Mothers Teaching’, ‘The Fathers Teaching’, ‘The
Nigth [sic] on the River’ (in colour), ‘The Youngest Sons Departure’, ‘The
Solitary old Couple’. The motifs are typical of the period, propounding
the national ideal of the emancipated farmer as the embodiment of
essential Norwegian values.
The accompanying verses are the work of the Norwegian poet, novelist,
playwright and newspaper editor Andreas Munch (1811–1884), who
effectively held the status of Poet Laureate.
Particularly interesting here are the parallel text translations of the
captions and Munch’s poems into English and French, and the
dedication in Dutch, which attest to the popularity of the paintings and
the publicity they generated.
WorldCat records no copies outside Europe.
Simon Beattie
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