Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Lear, Edward. Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria.. Richard Bentley, London, 1852.
Price: US$667.81 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardback, half-calf, probably late 19th century, with marbled paper covered boards. 24.5 x 15cm. xxx, [4], 284pp. Complete with two lithographed maps and 20 tinted lithographed plates. Bound without half-title and the publishers ads to rear. Initial blanks replaced. Previous titled owner's armorial bookplate on the front pastedown, and his wife's signature on the title page. Spine slightly faded. A little marginal toning and the odd spot but a pretty clean copy.
Seller: Besleys Books PBFA, Diss, United Kingdom
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Description: Large 8vo., (10 x 6 4/8 inches). Half-title 4-page publisher's advertisement at end (some spotting to preliminaries). Frontispiece map of "Part of the Kingdom of Naples", and 20 tinted lithographic plates, and one engraved map (some mostly marginal spotting). Original blue publisher's cloth decorated in blind (a bit shaken, extremities quite rubbed, a few light marks). Provenance: With the contemporary engraved bookplate of Charles C. Perkins on the front paste-down; the early 20th-century presentation inscription to "Mary Cabot Briggs from L.V.B [Lloyd Vernon Briggs (1863-1941)]" dated October 1905. First edition. "In 1847 Lear paid two visits to Naples and Sicily, collecting material for a projected book, "Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria, &c." (1852). In these as in others of his journeys he would travel on foot, or on horseback, from first light until it grew dark, stopping to draw wherever he saw suitable scenery and settling down each night to write up his journal. Many of the places he visited were uncharted and scarcely known beyond their own communities, and people who travelled with him have described the discomfort and hardship of the conditions, the primitive food and often disagreeable sleeping places, and how he pushed himself physically so that he could not only cover large distances but also produce the work which was one purpose of his journeys. It was thus that he hoped to reach the more remote and most beautiful places which he wanted to see; for a person who had endured a sickly childhood and who continued to suffer from short sight, from chest infections, and from epilepsy, it was an extraordinary achievement. As Lear went through Calabria he sensed the growing political unrest there, and in April 1848 he decided he must leave Italy" (ONDB). Catalogued by Kate Hunter
Seller: Arader Galleries - AraderNYC, New York, NY, U.S.A.
LEAR, Edward. Journals of a landscape painter in southern Calabria.. Richard Bentley, London, 1852.
Price: US$1200.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo. pp. XX, [4], 281, [1] With 21 sepia lithograph plates including 2 maps. Bound in publisher's blind stamped blue cloth; corners slightly bumped; re-backed preserving original gilt cloth spine - some wear, spots of discoloring, a couple letters faded. Endpapers are renewed in matching cream paper. Old inscription written on half title dated 1853; tiny date stamp on upper corner of title page; rear fly-leaf marked "National Library of Canada Seen by NLC." No other institutional markings. Scattered foxing - usually mild (heavier on verso blanks of some plates). The frontispiece map displays light but uniformly distributed foxing; 3-4 plates contain heavier spots of foxing - mostly marginal. A generally sound and attractive copy. Edward Lear (1812-1888) - English artist who is best known for the caricatures in his numerous nonsense books. Lear, however, was also an extensive traveler who produced illustrated accounts of his journeys. His journals in Southern Calabria contain not only beautiful landscape illustrations but also offer many interesting anecdotes concerning life in the Italian peninsula's southernmost province. [Abbey, Travel, 175; Lowndes p. 1328-29].
Seller: Robert McDowell Antiquarian Books, Concord, MA, U.S.A.
Edward Lear. Journals of a Landscape Painter in Southern Calabria. Richard Bentley, (London), 1852.
Price: US$1316.82 + shipping
Description: In 8 (cm 16 x 26), pp. XX + (4) + 284 + (4) di catalogo editoriale con 2 cartine iniziali fuori testo su foglio singoloÂ(Calabria Ulteriore e Basilicata) e 20 tavole fuori testo incise in litografia con vedute e scorci di: Reggio Calabria, Bova, Palizzi, foreste di Pietrapennata, Madonna di Polsi, Gerace, Rocella, Stilo, Gioiosa, Canolo, San Giorgio, Palmi, Bagnara, Scilla, Pentedattilo, Convento di Montevergine, Melfi, Castel del Monte, Venosa, S. Michele di Monte Voltorre. Legatura coeva in piena tela con titolo oro al dorso. Edizione originale del racconto di viaggio dell'inglese Edward Lear, intrapreso a piedi nel 1847, presso la "Punta dello Stivale", ovvero la zona sud della Calabria (con un'ultima parte riservata alla Lucania e alle Murge), alla ricerca del "retorico pittoresco" e delle "piu' suggestive scene che si possano trovare nella bella Italia". Lear, scrittore, maestro di pittura della regina Vittoria, e disegnatore della Royal Zoological Society, disegno' dal vivo i paesaggi via via incontrati, poi riprodotti nelle tavole in litografia di questo "illustrated travel book". Lear ritrae il Vulture, l'Ofanto, Melfi - dov'e' accolto dall'amministratore del principe Doria nel castello che gli appare sinistro e fermo nel tempo - e scrive: "C'e' un ponte levatoio con tetri cancelli, lugubri cortili, torri massicce, e maggiordomi con chiavi e cani feroci: tutti i requisiti della fortezza feudale dei romanzi cavallereschi". Nella veduta di Melfi il castello domina il paesaggio cosi' come i torrioni sul vallone di Venosa eÂdel monastero di San Michele in un'iconografia che rimanda al simbolismo preraffaellita eÂal Romanticismo, fatta di alberi, profondi crepacci, laghi e alte montagne che incombono sull'uomo. ITA
Seller: Coenobium Libreria antiquaria, Asti, Italy