E[meric] E[ssex] Vidal

Picturesque Illustrations of Buenos Ayres and Monte Video, Consisting of Twenty-Four Views: Accompanied with Descriptions of the Scenery and of the Costumes, Manners, &c. of the Inhabitants of Those Cities and Their Environs [Facsimile]

Buenos Aires [London]: Editorial Viau SRL [R. Ackermann], 1943. Very Good. Item #6232

Buenos Aires: Editorial Viau SRL, 1943; facsimile of volume originally published by R. Ackermann in London in 1820. Limited Reprint Edition of 3470, of which this is No.1489. Quarto; xxviii + 115pp. Twenty-five full-color watercolors reproduced on 24 bound-in plates, including four landscape-format fold-out plates. Broché in cream cardstock, with front cover reproducing original 1820 allegorical frame in brown. Nude spine.

Binding toned, minimally soiled, all corners politely abraded. Spine paper flaking and showing six vertical cracks, but holding well. About one third of back cover detached at joint but still stably connected. All illustrations present with bright colors and without misfolds; textblock unmarred and unmarked.

Vidal was a British naval officer and talented watercolorist. His work is celebrated for the enlightened conspectus of landscape, cityscape, social mores, financial structures, and multiple demographic and social classes he sought to describe. His watercolors—all clear, handsome, and informative—avoid the predictably picturesque to show, without condescension, what was striking and different about lives in Argentina. The overall tone of both images and text is documentary; the overall result is far more enlightening than the usual colonial travelogue.

Price: $65.00