1804 FIRST EDITION OF SELECT VIEWS OF LONDON AND ITS ENVIRONS, WITH 60 WONDERFUL FOLIO ENGRAVED PLATES

[HERBERT, William]. Select Views of London and its Environs; Containing a Collection of Highly-Finished Engravings, from Original Paintings and Drawings, Accompanied by Copious Letter-Press Descriptions. London: Vernor and Hood, Poultry; J. Storer and J. Greig, Chapel Street, Pentonville, 1804-05. Folio (10 by 13-1/2 inches), contemporary full black straight-grain morocco, raised bands, elaborately blind-stamped and gilt-decorated spine and boards, silk moire endpapers, all edges gilt. $4800.

First edition, with 60 wonderful folio engraved plates of landscapes and buildings in and near London.

Subjects include Lambeth Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, the old Palace of Westminster (destroyed by fire in 1834), Westminster Abbey, Eton College, Barking Abbey, Greenwich Hospital, Physicians' College, Temple Bar and a number of landscape views in the London area, among many others. This volume was produced unpaginated, "in order that the purchaser might be left at liberty to arrange the subjects treated of in a manner most agreeable to himself": this copy is complete.

Occasional foxing or expert cleaning to plates, beautiful contemporary binding in exceptional condition.