Knapp, Samuel L.:

$950 · Offered by William Reese Company

THE PICTURESQUE BEAUTIES OF THE HUDSON RIVER AND ITS VICINITY; ILLUSTRATED IN A SERIES OF VIEWS, FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, TAKEN EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK, AND ENGRAVED ON STEEL, BY DISTINGUISHED ... An unusual and little-known issue of the first part of Knapp's PICTURESQUE BEAUTIES of THE HUDSON. "Of this fine work Parts I and II only were issued, the Panic of 1857 [i.e. 1837] caused its discontinuance" - Sabin. Originally published in 1835, this first part contains three fine steel engraved plates of views along the Hudson River, which depict "The Narrows, from the Pavilion, near the Quarantine Ground, Staten Island," "Bay and Harbour of New York, From Bedlow's Island," and "Hell Gate, from Great Barn Island." Samuel Knapp was an early member of the American Antiquarian Society as well as a representative in the Massachusetts House and a prolific author of biographies (which the DAB calls "ornate, laudatory and patriotic, and wholly untrustworthy").This very rare issue of the first part of Knapp's work is something of a mystery – while parts three and four were never produced, there appear to have been a very small number of copies of part one re-issued in 1836. The only differences between this and the first issue (of 1835) are the appearance of the front wrapper (this wrapper matches the part two wrapper exactly, with no border and an 1836 date, compared to the first issue whose wrapper title is surrounded by a double rule and is dated 1835), and the date on the titlepage. Th

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