Mathews a Lfred E Dward (1 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. THE REESE COPY. New York: Alfred E. Mathews, 1866. First edition. Oblong folio. 20th-century quarter calf to style over green pebbled cloth boards. Title and author gilt to the front board. With 36 scenes on 23 tinted lithographed plates. Spine faded. Head and tail worn. Margins of 5 plates repaired with tape, beginning with the frontispiece. Heavy foxing and offsetting throughout the plates. Final leaf chipped. Pencil ownership inscription of "May C. Mathew-Bishop"(?) on the title-page. Alfred Edward Mathews (1831-1874) emigrated to the U.S. from England and became an itinerant bookseller and artist. He came to Colorado in 1865, having honed his illustrative skills as a Union soldier during the Civil War. He sought to present the awesome natural beauty of Colorado, as well as mining interests there. His documentary illustrations of the American West are accurate and attractive, among the earliest and most important of his time. Julius Bien, an American lithographer originally from Germany, was a specialist in chromolithography. Based in New York City, he printed a broad array of topics and maps, including a lithographed edition of John J. Audubon's The Birds of America. From the collection of William S. Reese (1955-2018), who was one of the great Americana booksellers. His firm continues to trade in New Haven. After his death, Christie's New York sold his private collection (24-25 May 2022; the present item was lot 260).