Jamaica—Hakewill | A picturesque tour of the island of Jamaica. 1825. folio, 21 hand-coloured plates, green morocco

Jamaica—Hakewill, James

A picturesque tour of the island of Jamaica from drawings made in the years 1820 and 1821. London: Hurst and Robinson, 1825 [but circa 1832?]

small folio (320 x 217mm.), 21 hand-coloured aquatint plates after Hakewill, some heightened with gum arabic, each with a leaf of letterpress text (text watermarked 1821 and 1823; the plates watermarked 1822; one plate dated 1832 (pl. 14 'St Thomas in the Vale from Mount Diablo')), tissue guards, twentieth century green crushed morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, occasional light spotting

A VERY GOOD COPY OF THIS CELEBRATED SERIES OF JAMAICAN VIEWS, originally issued in seven parts, 1824 to 1825. Abbey states part 2 included a text leaf about the conditions of slaves in Jamaica (not present here), however this information is repeated in the introduction. Some copies contain one or two plates watermarked 1832, and it has been suggested that the paper mould might have contained a mis-setting for numbers 2 and 3, however the Peralta-Ramos copy (Sotheby's New York, 18 June 2004, lot 274) contains a text leaf dated 1831 which would seem to disprove that theory.

LITERATURE:

Abbey, Travel 683 (in parts); Sabin 29591; Tooley (1954) 240

PROVENANCE:

D. Judah, bookplate