Sketches in the Crimea,

£4,500 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

Very rare. There is no copy in the Blackmer, Atabey or Abbey collections. Henry Charles Cunliffe-Owen (1821-1867) had a distinguished military career from 1839 until 1850 when he accepted a civilian appointment under the Royal Commission for the Great Exhibition of 1851. He rejoined the army on the outbreak of the Crimean war and saw Sevastapol but was wounded and invalided home before the heavy fighting of the siege. After the War he rose in rank to Lieutenant-Colonel and amongst his achievements was the fortification of Devonport. The illustrations depict: The Chapel in the Caves at Inkermann (title vignette); 2 views of the dockyard at Balaklava; Sebastopol from the picket battery; Harbour of Sebastopol from the Crow's Nest, Inkermann; Greek battery, Sebastopol; Monastery of St. George and the Valley of Baidar; Sebastopol from the 2nd Parallell Right Attack (folding plate). First edition; landscape folio (37.1 x 56.8 cm); hand-coloured lithographed title with vignette, 8 hand-coloured lithograph plates, on 6 leaves, one folding, armorial bookplate to front pastedown, some light spotting and fraying to title and final folding plate with margins and fold repaired, the rest of the plates have only very light marginal spotting and remain bright; original morocco backed cloth boards, title lettered in gilt to upper boards, a very good copy. Bobins 207; not in Blackmer, Abbey or Atabey.

• Binding: Hardcover

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