Scenery of Great Britain and Ireland in Aquatint and Lithography 1770-1860 (in 4 vols)

San Francisco: Alex Wofsy Fine Arts, 1991. Later edition. Reprint authorized by the trustees of J.R. Abbey and Dawsons. Four folio volumes measuring 310 x 232 mm. Faux leather with gilt to spines, all in Fine jackets. Collating xx, 399; xxi, 428; xiii, 299; xiv, 301-675: complete, including 633 illustrations. A pleasing set in all.

Drawing from his own collection, Major J. R. Abbey producied the following representation of landscape and architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries. "I have, for over a quarter of a century, been collecting books on the Scenery of Great Britain and Ireland, illustrated with aquatints or lithographs published between the years 1775 and 1860. In this Bibliographical Catalogue, the word 'Scenery' is not strictly confined to landscape but includes architecture, and urban and social scenes. I have found it a fascinating subject and a field in which there seem to have been few serious collectors. Many of the illustrations are of real beauty, and the fact that a large number are from books of the greatest rarity and therefore known to few in their original form gives added significance to those which are reproduced in this catalogue. It is perhaps true to say that the thirty-five plates are a microcosm of the English scene as well as showing something of the social life of the period.