Canadian Scenery Illustrated. From Drawings by W.H. Bartlett

London. Virtue & Co., City Road and Ivy Road. [1842]. 4to., 26.2cm, in 2 volumes, [iv],128 & [ii],116pp., plus engraved illustrated title pages, engraved map & 117 steel engraved plate illustrations, in the original half dark blue calf, gilt decorated raised bands, crushed crimson and black morocco labels, gilt titles, matched blue green marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt, some slight wear on the binding edges, a very good to fine set attractively bound. Seven plates have some foxing, otherwise they are clean, clear and bright. Notable for the high degree of contrast found in nineteenth century steel engravings - sets free of foxing have become somewhat difficult to find.(cgc). Note: The steel engraved plates were done in 1840-1841 and were still in use as late as 1884. William Withrow's A Popular History of the Dominion of Canada... 2 volumes 1884, had twenty-four Bartlett engraved plates. Given the title page imprint this issue was probably about 1855. There is talk that late plate wear produced weaker images but I have seen no evidence of that. There is no imprint or date on these plates, titles only, another indication of later pulls. William Henry Bartlett, 1809-1854, a noted traveller and highly skilled landscape artist, visited Canada four times between 1836 and 1852. He provided some twenty travelogues with brief texts. The prose text by Willis relates the history and current conditions in Upper and Lower Canada about 1839-40". - Canadian Scenery is considered Bartlett's finest production (Sabin). - "A very deep impression upon the pictorial history of Canada was made by William Henry Bartlett, artist and illustrator". Spendlove. Bartlett's original water-colour drawings for Canadian Scenery are in the ROM and are fantastic.