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Second Edition. In four volumes complete, (and arguably preferable with larger folded engravings than in the First Edition of 1783-1785). Hard cover, 8vo, finely bound in near contemporary full calf, the board margins double ruled in gilt with a roll of petite carnations within. The spine with five (low) raised bands, richly gilt with titles and volume numbers on black onlaid labels. Board edges rolled in gilt. Text block edges marbled. Marbled endpapers with bookplate of "Granville Hastings Wheler, 1725" to all volumes, with his signature also to title page Vol. I in old ink. English text, with additional Greek and Latin. Original silk ribbon bookmarks. Printed on laid paper. All original engraved plates as called for. CONDITION: Overall, Very Good Plus, or better. Exterior with some marks and splatters to boards of Vol. IV, otherwise a few minor scuffs to boards. Vol. I with 2 inches of cracked front joint at foot, but all holding firmly. Corners with some wear. One rear corner bump Vol. 1. Inside, all hinges are in order. The text has a few printer's smudges or minor offset as one might expect of a hand press item of the age. The set is generally very clean and pages remain bright. One small 1/4 inch tear noted at one plate's connection to its stub. Plates are very clean, the folds remaining crisp and little used in appearance. The Map in Vol. I has minor browning of the glue at the stub which goes through to the front fly and verso of marbled endpaper: a very minor issue. Map with a minor wrinkle from folding, to one corner. **Part illustrated gazetteer, and with observations on everything from agriculture to the architectural and industrial relics of the many colonizing and conquering powers who ruled Sicily, from the Greek city states of the 8th century "Magna Graecia, the later annexations by the Roman Republic, governance by Norman, Suabian, Angevin and Aragonese rulers, or "the Bourbons [who] were its first resident Royal family and under them the South swung perilously between enlightened development and brutal repression." (S. Ouditt). Naples, Syracuse, Agrigento, Taranto Reggia Calabria, Crotone and the lost Hellenistic metropolis of Sibari all formed part of his travels with his friend Samuel Gascoigne by horseback. **COLLATION: VOLUME 1: xxii, 307, [6pp.] with 6 folding engraved plates:1 LARGE Map of Sicily, (39 x 49 cm),1 LARGE Sovereign's Genealogy, (28.5 x 35cm) and 4 smaller foldout views: "Porto Ferraio," "Porto Longone," "Ruins of the Surrenentium (Capo di Puolo)", and "North View of the City of Bari," all 23.5 cm wide x 20cm high. VOLUME II: xi, [blank], 359pp., [5], with 4 folding engraved plates: "The City of Taranto anct. Tarentum from the North Shore of the Marepiccolo" (24.5 x 20cm); one MAP :"A Plan of the City and Port of Taranto," (26 cm x 20cm), Music (within text); PLAN, Port and City of Brindisi (24.5 cm x 20 cm), foldout view: "A View of the City of Brindisi...taken from the North West Head of the Port" (25 cm x 20 cm). VOLUME III: [4], (2), vii, 414, [2pp.], with 6 folded engraved views: "Court of a Country House Near the Gates of Pompeii" (24.5 x 20 cm), "View of Amalfy (sic) and its Coasts" (24.5 x 20 cm), the larger, OVERSIZED "View of the Port of Palermo" (52 x 31 cm tall), "Monreale" ( 24.5 x 20 cm) "La Tore Lizza near Palermo," and View of the Country Near Segesta" (25 x 20 cm). VOLUME IV: [4], viii, 394, [4], with 7 total fold out views: "The Ruins of Agugentum" (25 cm x 20 cm); "The Column at Terra Nova"(24.5 x 20 cm); "The Column of Marcellus at the Magnisi between Augusta and Syracuse" (23.5 x 20 cm); "Villa of the Prince of Biscari built on the Lava of 1669" (24.2. x 20 cm); "Castagno di Cento Cavalli on Mt Etna" (25.5 x 20 cm); and the OVERSIZED "A View of Messina as in 1777." (51.5 cm x 30.8cm tall). And the smaller "View of Tropea" (24.5cm x 20 cm).**AUTHOR HENRY SWINBURNE (1743-1803) from a British landed family, had an independent income and was a trained amateur artist who had studied in Paris.(Brit. Museum). Because of his independent income he was able to turn his travels into a living. He had earlier published "Travels through Spain, 1775 and 1776" (1779).(DNB)**Engraver PETER MAZELL (active 1761-1797) was the child of Irish Hugenots who came to work in London by 176, and made many of the copper plate engravings from the Author Swinburne's original watercolors. He was a notable artist himself, and a Fellow of the Society of Artists from 1772, but made his career on interpreting landscapes, travel and natural history subjects for others. He provided engravings for, among others, Capt. James Cooks "Voyages" in the 1780's (see prints in British Museum) **PROVENANCE: GRANVILLE HASTINGS WHELER, (1701-1770) is perhaps best remembered as a clergyman and amateur scientist who, with his friend Stephen Gray, conducted experiments with electricity, in imitation of the work of Benjamin Franklin, at his house, Otterden Place, near Charing, Kent. He was later elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1728, and published his findings on the repulsive power of electricity in "The Philosophical Transactions" of 1729. (DNB). He took after his father, Sir George Wheler (1650-1723) who became canon of Durham Cathedral, in joining the church and writing about his travels. Wheler's father published "A Journey into Greece" in 1682 (ESTC R9388), highlighting relatively yet-unexplored destinations, and the work was translated into French. (DNB) This book does not appear in the Sale Catalogue of the Wheler library by James White in August 1771. It may have been missed, or gone to another relative. **REF: ESTC T127398. OCLC 642351685. See S. Ouditt, ""Impressions of Southern Italy," (New York/Abington, 2014). (AMJ)
Ref: ADV 9669
$3500.00