Picturesque Views of the River Thames; WITH The River Medway; WITH Warwickshire Avon; WITH THe River Wye; WITH Account of the Inns of Court; WITH Tour Through Holland

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A Complete set of the Samuel Ireland River Books all the Plates with Contemporary Hand-Colouring! (8 volumes with 213 plates. Picturesque Views of the River Thames, London: T. and J. Egerton, 1792. First edition, two quarto volumes (222*155 mm), xvi, 290, [1], [1, errata], [1]; viii, [2], 258, [1, errata], [1]. [2, ads] pp. Each volume with half title, hand coloured frontispiece bearing the title, and an uncoloured map of the area surveyed in that volume. Contains all twenty eight hand coloured aquatints. Numerous textual engravings throughout. [Together with:] Picturesque Views of the River Medway, London: T. and J. Egerton, 1793. First edition, Quarto, 222*155 mm, xii, [2, map], 206. [2, ads] pp. Complete with half title, hand coloured frontispiece bearing the title, uncoloured map of the area surveyed and all twenty eight hand coloured aquatints. Numerous textual engravings throughout. [Together with:] Picturesque Views on the Upper, or Warwickshire Avon, London; R. Faulder and J. Egerton, 1795. First edition, Quarto, 222*155 mm, xviii, [2], 284 pp. Bound without the half title but with the map of the area surveyed. Complete with all thirty two hand coloured aquatints (including coloured frontispiece). Numerous textual engravings throughout. [WITH:] Picturesque Views on the River Wye, London: R. Faulder and J. Egerton, 1797. First edition, Quarto, 222*155 mm, xii, [2], 159, [1] pp. Complete with half title, uncoloured map of the area surveyed and all thirty one hand coloured aquatints. Numerous textual engravings throughout. The very rare hand coloured issue. Of the nineteen copies of this work to come up at auction in the last thirty years, only one copy had hand coloured plates. Not in Abbey or any other of the usual bibliographies. This volume, which was unknown to Abbey, completes Ireland's famous River guides. [Together with:] Picturesque Views, with an Historical Account of the Inns of Court, in London and Westminster. London: R. Faulder and J. Egerton, 1800. First edition, Quarto, 222*155 mm, xvi, 254, [2, errata]. Complete with all twenty one hand coloured aquatints. Numerous textual engravings throughout. Half title not bound in. The rare hand coloured issue. According to Abbey, the plates in this work were sepia aquatints. [Together with:] IRELAND Samuel, Picturesque Tour through Holland, Brabant, and Part of France, 1789. The second edition, and additions; and an entire new set of copper plates in aqua-tinta, from drawings made on the spot. London: T. Egerton. Second edition, with additions, two quarto volumes, 222*155 mm, xviii, 217, [1]; iv, 211, [1] pp. Complete with all forty nine aquatints (including the engraved titles and the extra plate of 'Delft towards the Hague' not cited in the plate list). Half titles not called for. This is the exceedingly rare hand coloured issue which was unknown to Abbey (not even a mention of 'some copies hand coloured'. The distinction between the first and second editions is that plates 31 and 48 appear in this edition for the first time and number 9 ('Delft') is also additional and is not called for in the list of plates. this is the plate which appeared in the first edition instead of the plate listed, 'Entrance to Delft from Rotterdam'. All eight volumes are uniformly and beautifully bound in full red morocco by Wood of London. Covers with single gilt fillet borders and corner gilt foliate devices, spines delicately gilt in compartments in the same foliate pattern, gilt spine lettering, gilt board edges and turn-ins, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. All plates captioned and with their original tissue giards. An absolutely stunning set, with all 209 plates being hand coloured, without any offsetting or paper flaws, and in a sumptuous and appropriate binding. Abbey Scenery 430; Prideaux pp 271 & 341; Abbey Scenery 428. Prideaux p271 & 341; Abbey Scenery 427. Prideaux p 271 & 341; Abbey Scenery 207. Prideaux p 271 & 341; Abbey Travel 185. Prideaux p340. Lipperheide 95