Scenery of the White Mountains (First Edition)

Boston: Crosby, Nichols, and Company, 1848. FIRST EDITION. Recent half brown morocco leather with faded purple cloth blind stamped gilt decorated and lettered on the front board. The boards have been laid and the book rebacked. Four raised bands with gilt rulling and tool work on spine. All edges gilt. Original brown endpages. From the drawings of Isaac Sprague. [4], 4pp. followed by 16 lithographic plates interleaved with corresponding leaves containing explanatory remarks. 1) "The White Mountains," 2) "Mount Crawford," 3) "The Notch of the White Mountains," 4) "The Lower Cascade of the Notch," 5) "The Gate of the Notch," 6) "The Falls of the Amonoosuck," 7) "The Granite Cliffs of the Falls" (two views on one plate), 8) "The Franconia Notch," 9) "Profile Mountain at Franconia," 10) "The Profile Rock," 11) "The Basin, in Lincoln, N.H.," 12) "The Flume, in Lincoln, N.H.," 13) "Nancy"s Bridge," 14) "Mt. Crawford, from the Notch" (two views on one plate), 15) "Mount Washington" (two views on one plate), and 16) "Mt. Washington, over Tuckerman"s Ravine." Plates 10, 11, 12 & 14 are by lithographs by Bufford, the rest are by Thayer. Some marginal dampstaining to a few plates and some light foxing to a couple of plates else very good. Benjamin W. Thayer and John Henry Bufford (1810-1870) were among America's most important earlier lithographers, both were successors to the pioneering William Pendleton. Isaac Sprague (September 5, 1811 - 1895), the artist who drew the scenes, was a self-taught landscape, botanical, and ornithological painter. He was America's best known botanical illustrator of his day. Photos can be e-mailed. . First Edition. Half Morocco Leather. Very Good. Elephant Folio - over 15" - 23" tall. Hardcover.