F. Catherwood, Architect -- Explorer of Two Worlds

Barre Mass: Barre Publishers, 1968. Small 4to. 9-1/4" x 7". 60 pp. With an Introduction by Aldous Huxley. Book is in fine condition./Dust jacket has a 1" closed tear. and a little minor edgewear. Spine of jacket is a little darkened. Overall very good.. Illustrated with photographs and drawings by Catherwood. New gleanings by Victor von Hagen from the British Museum and the University of California at Berkeley serve to flesh out the shadowy figure of the great architect, explorer and artist Frederick Catherwood. Catherwood is best known for his magnificent lithographs of Mayan ruins, the drawings of which were made on four expeditions with John Lloyd Stephens in the 1840's. This book is an account of Catherwood's life, travels and work among the ruins of the ancient world in Egypt, the Middle East, North Africa and Central America. Until Mr. von Hagen's studies, Catherwood had been a nearly anonymous figure. His life was marred by lack of appreciation by his contemporaries, his enterprises disastrous. Even his great 10,000 square foot panorama of the city of Jerusalem on display in New York was destroyed by fire. His death was as obscure as his life. He died in a collision of steamboats in the Atlantic. The New York Herald printed many days later the single line: "Mr. Catherwood also is missing." Much of the illustration in this book has recently been brought to light by Mr. von Hagen.