[17th Century Travel, England] Picturesque Views on the Upper or Warwickshire Avon, .. by Ireland, Samuel (1774-1800) - 1795

London: R. Faulder and T. Egerton, 1795. First Edition, First Printing. A Fine Hardcover. Fine/No Dust Jacket As Issued.
The Rest of the Title: ...from its source at Nasby to its junction with the Severn at Tewkesbury: with Observations on the Public Buildings, and Other works of art in its vicinity.

Burgundy full-leather hardcover with tooled and gilt double fillet borders, inner dentelles, lettered title on black label in gilt with tooled and gilt floral decoration in five bands, new endpages. [Rebound] No Flaws or Blemishes; Gift Quality. Text lightly toned and minimal offset from the plates.

Aquatint extra title, 29 aquatint plates, 2 portraits, map of the course of the Avon, text engravings. 8vo; 23.5 cm, 9.25 inches tall; [v-xviii] -284. First Edition. [Two plates mis-inserted plate p243 at p250 and plate p250 at p253] All plates present.. An important travalogue describing the locations and views along the River Avon from its source at Naseby to its junction with the Severn at Twekesbury.

Also notable for some racy accounts which includes a brothel and a town whose young women trade favors for gingerbread.

The author and engraver, began life as a weaver in Spitalfields, London, but soon took to dealing in prints and drawings and devoted his leisure to teaching himself drawing, etching, and engraving. He made sufficient progress to obtain a medal from the Society of Arts in 1760... "his taste for collecting books, pictures, and curiosities gradually became an all-absorbing passion, and his methods exposed him at times to censure..." DNB

A bit of trivia about the author.
Samuel Ireland was a fervent admirer of William Shakespeare, and in 1793, when preparing his "Picturesque Views of the Avon," he took his son with him to Stratford-upon-Avon, to examine carefully all the sights associated with the dramatist.

The father recorded many local traditions, which he accepted as true, including those concocted for his benefit (according to Sidney Lee) by John Jordan, a Stratford poet, who was his chief guide throughout his visit.

In his pursuit of information about Shakespeare Ireland, learned from some of the oldest inhabitants that manuscripts had been moved from Shakespeare's residence at New Place to Clopton House at the time of the Stratford fire. To Clopton House he went, where he learned from the tenant that the manuscripts, he was seeking had been destroyed only a week before.

His disappointment was extreme. 'My God! Sir, you are not aware of the loss which the world has sustained. Would to heaven I had arrived sooner!' Today he is best remembered today as the chief victim of the Ireland Shakespeare forgeries created by his son, William Henry Ireland. But, alas, that is a tale for another day.

Ref: English Short Title Catalog, t79991; Abbey, Scenery, 427. Cox III,182. Upcott 1277; WiKI; DNB ; Kells, p46