NORTHUMBERLAND, Charlotte Florentia Percy, Duchess of.  CASTLES OF ALNWICK & WARKWORTH.

NORTHUMBERLAND, Charlotte Florentia Percy, Duchess of.  CASTLES OF ALNWICK & WARKWORTH.                                                 

(London): W. Nicol, Shakespeare Press, 1824. 4to. Contemporary Roxborough-style binding in quarter-calf with brick red boards. (vi), lithographed title leaf, 39 pages, 29 lithographed plates, one of which is hand-colored. First edition.

A nice association copy from the author to Edward Everett, dated 24 September 1844, when he was American Envoy Extraordinary to Great Britain.  Everett later served as Massachusetts governor, President of Harvard, Secretary of State, and was the primary speaker at the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery (1863) giving an oration that preceded Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.  The book itself was one of only a few architectural and topographical books in its time to be written and illustrated by a woman.  It is an early example of English lithography, not in Abbey or Twyman.  OCLC only cites six copies as being in American libraries.  The plates were printed on india paper by Charles Joseph Hullmandel, a pioneer English lithographer and author of The Art of Drawing on Stone (1824), and J.D. Harding.  The text describes the family's substantial holdings in Northumberland, including Alnwick, Hulne Abbey, Warkworth Castle, Warkworth Hermitage, and Coquet Island.  The one hand colored plate shows armorial crests of the Percy family.  In addition to the engraved plates, there are nine illustrations laid-down in the text.  A nice copy despite some chipping to the extremities of the spine.  With Everett's bookplate and a second signature by the author on the half-title page.

$3,850.00