Mexico y sus Alrededores: Collecion de Monumentos, Trajes y Paisajes Dibujados al Natural y Litografiados por los Artistas Mexicanos..., Bajo la Direccion de Decaen.

Mexico City: Establecimiento Litografico de Decaen, Editor, 1865. MEXICO. Mexico in the 19th Century" (-Mexico on Stone)

[Mexico]. Mexico y sus Alrededores. Collecion de Monumentos, Trajes y Paisajes Dibujados al Natural y Litografiados por los Artistas Mexicanos..., Bajo la Direccion de Decaen. Mexico City: Establecimiento Litografico de Decaen, Editor, 1855 and 1856.

First edition. Folio. With 32 pages of text. Tinted emblematic title-page (dated "1855 y 1856"), and a total of thirty-one colored or tinted lithographic plates, four with two images. Captions in Spanish, English, and French. The artists involved were Casimiro Castro, Juan Campillo, Luis Auda, and G. Rodriguez.

Full black cloth, gilt-stamped on front cover. Previous owners signiture on half-title. Minor scuffing to covers. A very good and very clean copy of this very rare and important work.

Michael Mathes in Mexico on Stone calls this work "one of the most significant lithographic productions in the history of the art... This is the most important work illustrating Mexico in the 19th century." The normally restrained Abbey cataloguer declares "the draughtmanship and lithography [are] of a very high standard." The marvelous plates depict views and specific structures and parks in Mexico City and its environs, as well as several depictions of regional costumes. The majority of plates in this copy are colored, primarily in shades of brown and green, with numerous details in additional colors. Previous owner's pencil inscriptions in several places (from 1864).

Abbey, Travel, 672 (miscounting the plates). Colas 547. Hiler, p. 586. Lipperheid 1624. Mathes, Mexico on Stone, 29ff. Palau 167505. Sabin 48590.

HBS 66792.

$7500.