These Historical Views of the late glorious expedition, of his Brittanic Majesty's ships and forces against the Havannah under the command of Sir George Pocock, the Rt. Honble Lord Albermarle, and Rea

£35,000 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A wonderful commemoration of the English victory over Spain at the Battle of Havana in 1762. This marked the final phase of the Seven Years War. Keppel led the battle under the overall command of Admiral Pocock. “Now, with Spain entering the war on the side of France, the cabinet decided to attack Havana. The preliminary planning was done by Anson. Admiral George Pocock was the naval commander and Keppel’s elder brother, Lord Albemarle, commanded the army. Augustus Keppel was appointed as commodore and naval second in command. Though rightly dubious about Captain Augustus Hervey’s proposal to bombard the fortress El Morro from the sea, Keppel gave solid support. The fortress was taken after six weeks of hard fighting, before yellow fever quite prevailed. On 11 August Havana itself surrendered” (ODNB). Orsbridge served on the Orford under Captain Marriot Arbuthnot. The twelve beautifully executed plates here are all after images drawn on the spot by him and include every stage of approach, siege and capture. He would have been aware of the talented painter Dominique Serres, who at that time was engaged in producing paintings of Richard Short’s drawings for his Twelve views of the Principal buildings in Quebec (1761) and his images of Halifax. Orsbridge engaged him for this series and all the plates are inscribed Serres pinxit . The first three images, plus the frontispiece, were advertised for sale in the Public Advertiser on 11 and 12 April 1764. There are some curious errors

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