[Six views in North Wales]

Additional information

Six Rare Welsh Views 6 superb coloured plates, not dated but c1808, loose as issued, without title or text, housed in a custom clam shell box, half calf over red marbled boards, gilt tooling, printed title to upper board, spine with gilt tooling, gilt titles to maroon calf label. (308*226 mm) Plates are: Conway Castle; Carnarvon Castle; View near Caernarvon; Pont Aberglasslyn; Betgellert Bridge, Carnarvonshire; Valle Crucis Abbey, Denbighshire. Drawn by Miss Smirke ; engr. by W. Pickett [and J. Harriden]. Bobins 722. Abbey Scenery 519 Smirke was the daughter of the painter and illustrator Robert Smirke. These views are valued today because they represent one of the earliest independent sets of coloured aquatints devoted solely to North Wales. And appeared during a period when artists such as Paul Sandby, Thomas Walmsley, and others were helping establish Wales as one of Britain's foremost destinations for picturesque travel.