Daniell’s A Picturesque Voyage to India by the way of China – Volume with 50 Hand-colored Aquatint Engravings

$17,500

Product No. daniell

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A Picturesque Voyage to India by the way of China

This first edition volume with 50 hand-colored aquatint engravings is Thomas and William Daniell’s A Picturesque Voyage to India by the way of China. The work was published in 1810 in London by Thomas Davison for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and W. Daniell.

The work is considered one of the greatest pictorial records of India. “A collection of beautifully coloured engravings illustrating places and scenes of interest on the voyage from Gravesend to China and India.” (Mendelssohn) The album opens with the Indiaman’s departure from Gravesend and includes depictions of the East Indies and the Straits of Malacca. The majority of the views depict native life in Java (including shark fishing) and nautical scenes along the Chinese coast and Canton River, with some scenes of Chinese dress and manners.

The aquatint engravings feature original hand-coloring and are printed to thick paper. Each image is accompanied by explanatory text. At least two of the leaves the Whatman 1808 watermark can be seen. The introduction page and Cape of Good Hope leaves are printed upside down to versos. There is a faint blindstamp to title page. The volume is bound in contemporary gilt calf.

“The Daniells left England in 1785, when William was only about sixteen, and they were back in England in September 1794. From an early stage Thomas seems to have set out to emulate and surpass Hodges (Select Views in India) in popularizing his views through the comparatively new medium of aquatint. The uncle and nephew were determined not only to do better than Hodges but to expose the weaknesses of the pioneer’s work by choosing the same views as Hodges had done, drawing them more accurately, and aquatinting them more skillfully.” (Abbey Scenery II, p.377)

“Thomas Daniell played an instrumental role in graphically documenting a wide geographical and cultural range of sites across the Indian subcontinent, travelling more extensively than any of his contemporary colonial artists, and earning him the title ‘artist-adventurer’. Assisted by his nephew, Daniell made three tours: from Calcutta to Srinagar (1788-91), a circular tour from Mysore to Madras (1792-3), and in 1793 they visited Bombay and its temple sites-always sketching, drawing, and painting intensively as they travelled” (ODNB).

Provenance: Radnorshire County Library blind stamp to title; Photocopied bookplate of Thomas Bulkeley-Owen to front endpaper

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