Topography of Troy, and Its Vicinity: Illustrated and Explained by Drawings and Descriptions. Dedicated by Permission, to her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire.

London: C. Whittingham, for T.N. Longman and O. Rees, 1804. Certainly the Most Beautiful Book on Troy Ever Published"

GELL, W[illiam]. The Topography of Troy, and Its Vicinity; Illustrated and Explained by Drawings and Descriptions. Dedicated by Permission, to her Grace The Duchess of Devonshire. London: C. Whittingham, for T.N. Longman and O. Rees, 1804.

First edition. Folio. [iv], 124 pp. Uncut in contemporary marbled boards, rebacked and recornered. (Measures 17 1/4 inches x 10 3/4 inches). With red morocco spine label. With twenty-eight plates and illustrations, including colored vignette-etching on title-page, nine colored etchings, nineteen colored aquatints (some folding), one uncolored aquatint, and the heads of eleven pages (see Abbey). One page with inner margin tape repair, minor toning throughout. Fine. Rare.

"Gell visited the Troad between December 2 and December 7, 1801 on his first trip to Greece, in the company of Edward Dodwell (1767-1832) and a certain Mr. Atkins. He used with consummate skill a camera lucida to produce in a very short time extremely accurate sketches. The production of this handsome folio with its forty-five plates was meant to supply accurate illustrations of the scenery covering the whole region of the, so far, purely literary dispute on Troy. Gell adhered strictly to the Bunarbashi theory. Bryon disliked him and made scathing remarks on 'rapid' Gell in the fifth edition of English Bards and Scoth Reviewers, saying in a note: 'Rapid indeed! He topographized and typographized King Priam's dominions in three days.' In fact Gell spent five days in the area and the result was certainly the most beautiful book on Troy ever published. It is dedicated to the Duchess of Devonshire (1757-1806), the 'Beautiful Georgiana,' wife of the fifth Duke, who was pleased '...to express...an interest highly gratifying' on matters concerning Troy. The interest in topography of that region was still as intense in 1804 as it had been in 1791. 'The controversy on the subject of Troy, which had long employed the ingenuity and abilities of some of the most learned men in Europe, imparted new charms and increasing interest, to the contemplation of scenes already made sufficiently engaging, the writings of the poet and historian.' —Lilly.

The illustrations in this work were made with the use of the Camera Lucida. The process and term was first described by Robert Hooke (1635-1703), where a picture of anything might be reflected by use of a mirror through a convex lens and a hole onto a white background. William Hyde Wollaston, introduced in 1807, a somewhat unrelated device of the same name, commonly used to draw with. This device must have been similar to that which Gell used on his work.

"A classical scholar of some repute, educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and widely traveled in Greece and Asia Minor, Gell became, with his many publications, the leading topographer of classical lands before the arrival of William Martin Leake. Sent on a mission to the Ionian Islands, he was knighted in 1803, went out to Greece for a second, extensive tour in 1804-1806, and was elected a member of the Society of Dilettanti in 1807. He was an entertaining man with a relish for the company of eminent person. Thus he became Chamberlain to Queen Caroline in 1814, and was involved in giving evidence at her notorious trial in 1820. The last years of his life were spent in Italy."

Abbey, Travel, 399. Blackmer Sale 616 (brought $6,250 Oct. 1989). Blackmer Library 660. Gernsheim, The History of Photography. Lilly Library, The Search for Troy, 81.

HBS 66791.

$7,500.