Incidents of Travel in Yucatan First Edition - John L. Stephens - Bauman Rare Books

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Incidents of Travel in Yucatan

John L. STEPHENS

Item#: 63545 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Incidents of Travel in Yucatan

STEPHENS’ INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL IN YUCATAN, WITH ENGRAVINGS AFTER CATHERWOOD

STEPHENS, John L. Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1843. Two volumes. Octavo, original elaborately gilt-stamped plum cloth.

First American edition of Stephens’ classic work on Central America, illustrated with 75 full-page plates and numerous in-text wood engravings after drawings executed by Frederick Catherwood, including two folding frontispieces and a folding map of the Yucatan peninsula.

In 1839, Stephens and Catherwood set out to explore the jungles of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula in search of the remnants of a once-great civilization whose existence was only hinted at in the literature of the period. Together, they recorded their observations on the ancient ruins in words and sketches, publishing Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan in 1841 and the present work two years later. The illustrations, engraved from sketches and daguerreotype views taken by Catherwood, are remarkable for their accuracy; his renderings of Mayan hieroglyphic inscriptions, whose meanings were totally unknown to him, can be deciphered by modern scholars. “The wonderful structures of the race of Indians which once inhabited the peninsula of Central America are here described by pen and pencil with great clearness and minuteness” (Field, 379). Sabin 91299. Hill, 282.

Foxing to text and plates, as usual, original cloth sunned, but extremely good, gilt very bright. A very good copy in original cloth.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
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Doublure Pastedowns made not of paper but of leather, for decorative purposes.
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Engraving Illustration produced by carving lines into a metal plate. This is an intaglio process, in which ink is poured over the plate, then wiped from the surface, leaving ink only in the recesses made by the engraver’s tools. The image is then transferred by pressing thick dampened paper against the metal plate with great force—requiring engravings to be printed on a separate stock and separate press from any text.
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Lithograph Illustration produced by transferring an image drawn on a carefully prepared stone to paper. The process allowed illustrations to more closely resemble the original drawings, paintings or sketches, as it gave the lithographer a freedom of line impossible to achieve in earlier intaglio and relief processes. It does not require the same sort of pressure as an engraving to transfer the image, but still has to be printed on separate stock from the text
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Verso The back or reverse side of a leaf or page. (See “recto.”)
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
Wormhole Tiny pinhole-sized trails left by bookworms as they eat through a text block. Much more common in older books printed on handmade papers with a high rag content than in books printed on manufactured papers made from wood pulp with a higher acidic content.
Wrappers Paper coverings—plain, marbled or printed—attached by stitches, staples or glue to a text block to identify it and afford it some protection (though much more fragile than a binding in plain, cloth or leather-covered boards). More typical of slim and/or inexpensive volumes such as pamphlets. “Self wrappers” are leaves, blank or printed, that are integral to the text block, conjugate with other leaves and from the same stock. “Original wrappers,” those attached at the time of issue, are scarce and extremely desirable to most collectors.