A Collection of 11 Plates from Views in Egypt, Palestine and Other Parts of the Ottoman Empire: Volume One: Views in Egypt. Original editions.
London: by Thomas Bensley for R. Bowyer, 1804. Color aquatints. 18.25 x 12.5 inches. 46.5 x 32cm. Some watermarked J. Whatman, 1804.
Very good, some matted.
Included are Abbey, 369, I:
2, 6, 8,10, 28, 29, 35, 42, 43, 44, 46.
Ref: Travel in aquatint and lithography, 1770-1860 : from the library of J.R. Abbey (v.II), 1957; Colas, Bibliographie General du Costume et de la Mode, no. 2018
Luigi Mayer (d. 1803), a watercolourist and draughtsman, is renowned as the most accurate delineator of the Near East before David Roberts, who produced the monumental volumes The Holy Land (1842) and Views in ancient Egypt and Nubia (1846), copies of which are also held
in the Overstone Library. Despite the success of Mayer’s publications, very little is known about his life. He is known to have been born in Germany, and lived for several years in Rome where he was a pupil of Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778), one of the finest artists of his day, and well-known for his etchings of ancient and contemporary architecture in Rome. Mayer was employed by a British ambassador to the Ottoman Porte, Sir Robert Ainslie, to produce drawings in Asia Minor and the Near East: Sir Robert Ainslie, first baronet (1729/30-1812). Item #51-3572
Price: $1,750.00