Rev C Willyams (2 results)

Half Morocco over Boards. Condition: Good Plus. Folio. 32 pp. with 31 hand-colored aquatint plates. Both Abbey Travel 198 and Tooley 511 give the plate number as 36 but the letterpress matches the 31 plate number in this copy and there are absolutely no signs of anything removed, and so surely this copy was issued as such. A few of the plates are exciting, such as the frontis with the procession depicted or scenes of old Cairo, and none are without merit. The binding is contemporary, and although quite scuffed, especially the boards, and there is wear along the joints, well worth preserving. Some scattered foxing and soiling, the title bearing the brunt of such as is here, and there is a minor tear/chip on the upper title page as well. Measures 16 by 12 inches, 40 by 30 cm.…

Aquatint by Samuel Alken. The Reverend Cooper Willyams (1762-1816) was a topographer and artist, as well as minister and chaplain. The son of a British naval commander, he went to Cambridge, was ordained and contributed to "Topographical Miscellanies" before going to sea as Chaplain on the Boyne in 1793. England was at war with revolutionary France, and the Boyne participated in the West Indies' action of that war. In 1796, Willyams returned to London and published An Account of the Campaign in the West Indies., which was illustrated with six drawings by Willyams, rendered in aquatint by Samuel Alken. This view on Guadeloupe was taken just outside Fort Matilda where Willyams served as chaplain. From his commanding position but minimizing the fortress as a geographical figure, Willyams gives a rich view of the lush hills and the rushing river below. Abbey, 677; Hough,The Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection at Hamilton College, 486.…