“LIVELY IMPRESSIONS OF ACTUAL SIGHTS”: BARTLETT’S THE NILE BOAT, WITH 50 WOOD-ENGRAVED VIEWS OF EGYPTIAN RUINS AND MONUMENTS
(EGYPT) BARTLETT, William Henry. The Nile Boat; or, Glimpses of the Land of Egypt. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1851. Royal octavo, publisher’s navy cloth with elaborate Egyptian vignettes in gilt on covers and spine, rebacked with remnants of original spine laid down, top edge gilt.
First American edition, with frontispiece, vignette title page, two maps, double-page panorama of Alexandria, 30 full-page plates and 17 in-text vignettes, all engraved on wood, of Egyptian ruins, monuments, mosques, landscapes and cityscapes.
Bartlett’s travels through Egypt along the Nile River took him to all the great monuments and cities, which he here describes and depicts with a sharp eye for character and detail—Bartlett “used his pencil and his pen with equal skill” (DNB). All of the illustrations “were drawn upon the spot, many of them with the Camera Lucida” to render accurate drawings and sketches. First published in London in 1849. With leaf of publisher’s advertisements at rear. Original owner signature dated 1851; ex-library St. Mark’s Chapel, Missouri, with bookplate.
An extremely good copy.