A small volume of watercolours and one pencil depicting topographical scenes in and around Havanna and St. Jago Cuba.

£7,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Captain Andrew Scott Jr. (1798-1888) was a native of Portland, Maine. A sea-farer and trader he moved in mid-century to Flushing New York, where he is listed in the 1850 census as a ship’s captain with real estate value of $1500. He travelled widely and made small watercolour sketches whenever he could, showing a proficiency and confident use of colour beyond that of a mere amateur. In his early years, Scott served on the Enterprise during the War of 1812, and was aboard when she came into port with her captured prize HMS Boxer . The present album comprises a fine series of watercolour studies made in and around Cuba in the late 1850s . The subjects offer a broad insight into Cuban society in the mid-nineteenth century, from grand plazas and churches to a humble shack at the mouth of a river, with the traditional racks of drying fish, and a picture of what is almost certainly the beginning of construction on the church in rural sugar town Sagua la Grande. There is a fine bustling street view of the Spanish style balconied houses down Hernandez Street, and another image showing enslaved workers labouring at the Wilson estate at Camarioca near San Juan . (Slavery wasn’t fully abolished in Cuba until 1886.) The waterfront views include a picture made whilst quarantining on St Jago Island (the largest of the Cape Verdes), and several boldly colourful sunsets. The captions are as follow: 1. “Plaza Santiago de Cuba” 2. “Church Sagua la grande” 3. “St Jago from Fabo’s(?) house” 4. “

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.