1855 VOLUME: THE SEAT OF THE WAR IN THE EAST

A rare and important work, first edition, limited, (large folio size) of the First Series on the Crimean War (1854-1856) by William Simpson (1823-1899) printed in June 1855 at London by Paul and Dominic Colnaghi of Pall Mall, Publishers to Her Majesty Queen Victoria and containing dedication in handscript "To Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria This First Series of Sketches by William Simpson, Illustrative of the Seat of War in the East, is most respectfully dedicated By Her Majesty's dutiful subjects and servants, Paul and Dominic Colnaghi and Co., 13 and14 Pall Mall East"; the 40 Plates were lithographed By Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen, 17 Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London; William Simpson, born in Scotland, was one of the first British war artists and was trained in Glasgow and London; Queen Victoria was so impressed by this work and dedication that Simpson enjoyed her patronage for the rest of his life and was a frequent visitor to Windsor Castle and Balmoral; Simpson was commissioned by the Publishers to go to Sebastopol to record by sketches the events at the height of the Crimean War from September 1854 to the Battle of Tchernaya in August 1855;

Simpson's work is an astonishing and extraordinary pictorial record of people, battles, events, and life at the time; his technique and artistry transformed in incredibly detailed lithographs makes the reader feel as if viewing near actual photographs; Simpson was photographed in Crimea in 1855 by Roger Fenton, one of the first war photographers; however, Fenton was not able to capture the spectacular images which Simpson saw and sketched as his equipment was large and cumbersome and had to be transported by horse and cart to locations; accordingly, he was limited in choice of motif and restricted to mostly posed subjects due to long exposure times; presented with green leather covered boards exhibiting edge wear and some staining with gilt trim and raised bands on the spine, all gilt edged pages (sepia hand-coloured images) are complete in very good undamaged condition with age toning and some minor foxing; all plates are interleaved with blank pages, some with copies of actual sketches for key purposes where appropriate; occasionally, single lithographs from this work appear for sale for hundreds of dollars each depending on special interest of subject, e.g. The Charge of the Light Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava, on 25 October 1854

Provenance: 2 ex libris plates on inside front cover (a) and first page (b):(a) Inter Folio Fructus – One of the Books of Anna M. Thompson, 4 Abercromby Square, Liverpool.
(b) Coat of Arms of Russell Mortimer Luckock (note W.P.B. 1909). Major General Russell Mortimer Luckock, CB, CMG, DSO, (1877-1950) was a British Army officer who served as Colonel of the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) and who saw service in the Second Boer War and First World War