Observations On The River Wye, And Several Parts Of South Wales, &c. Relative Chiefly To Picturesque Beauty; Made In The Summer Of The Year 1770 [W. Frank Perkins copy]

London: printed for R. Blamire, in the Strand [from 1782], 1789. Second Edition. Full Calf. Fine. Beautifully bound Large Paper issue (ESTC Citation No.T98996) of Gilpin's first picturesque tour, creating an entirely new class of travel. Royal 8vo (233 x 186mm): xvi,152pp, with 17 full-page oval aquatints (without titles, numbers, signatures or imprints), "over which is washed with the brush a tint of warm yellow or brown to give tone to the picture." (Hardie). Contemporary full mottled calf, flat spine divided into six compartments elaborately tooled in gilt, red morocco lettering piece gilt, covers framed with gilt rules and gilt corner devices, marbled end papers. Book plate of W. Frank Perkins (1865-1946) to front paste-down (Perkins's books on agriculture are now held in the Perkins Agricultural Library at Southampton University). A superior wide-margined example, securely bound (expert repair to joints), pages and plates virtually pristine. Scarce: ESTC lists only seven copies of this Large Paper Issue, five in Britain and two in U.S.A. Bland (History of Book Illustration), p. 247. Abbey (Scenery) 546. Prideaux, p. 337. Hardie, p. 120. Henrey II, p. 531. Barbier, pp. 49-51. Upcott I, p. 330. Lowndes II 894. Cox, Travel III, p. 30. First of a series of five works with similar titles, exposing Gilpin to the satire of Combe's Dr. Syntax. In June of 1770, Gilpin embarked on his first picturesque tour. "Sailing down the Wye proved a very different trip from [Gilpin's earlier] tame journey down the Thames: the ruined castles and mountains of Wales were indeed exciting after the flat countryside of eastern and south-eastern England. . . . here was landscape that called for description, that matched his conceptions of beauty and grandeur." (Barbier) According to Chilvers & Osborne (Oxford Dictionary of Art), Gilpin was "first to establish the picturesque as an aesthetic category and by his numerous writings, illustrated by his own fine aquatints, he exerted a profound and lasting influence on both English and European taste in natural and artificial scenery and landscape painting." N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).