George Wilkins Kendall and Carl Nebel | The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated. New York, 1851, early pictorial war reportage - photo 1
George Wilkins Kendall and Carl Nebel | The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated. New York, 1851, early pictorial war reportage - photo 2
George Wilkins Kendall and Carl Nebel | The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated. New York, 1851, early pictorial war reportage - photo 3
George Wilkins Kendall and Carl Nebel | The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated. New York, 1851, early pictorial war reportage - photo 4

George Wilkins Kendall and Carl Nebel | The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated. New York, 1851, early pictorial war reportage

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£ 12 065
Auction dateClassic
28.11.2023 14:00UTC +01:00
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Sotheby´s
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United Kingdom, London
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ID 1076567
Lot 44 | George Wilkins Kendall and Carl Nebel | The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated. New York, 1851, early pictorial war reportage
George Wilkins Kendall and Carl Nebel

The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated, embracing pictorial drawings of all the principal conflicts. New York & Philadelphia: [Plon Brothers of Paris for] D. Appleton & Co. and George S. Appleton, 1851

FIRST EDITION, folio (text: 580 x 435 mm.; plates: 508 x 638 mm.) lithographed map by Erhardt-Schieble, 12 FINE HAND-COLOURED LITHOGRAPHED PLATES, HEIGHTENED WITH GUM ARABIC, by Bayot (11) or Bayot & Bichebois (1) after Nebel, printed in Paris by Lemercier, text bound to style in red cloth-backed contemporary oatmeal-coloured thick paper wrappers, the upper cover with original gilt-lettered red moiré cloth label laid down; archivally matted plates unbound within a modern four-fold red cloth portfolio, housed together in a fine modern red morocco-backed clamshell box gilt

AN EXCEPTIONALLY FINE COPY of this landmark work of lithographic illustration: an account of the major battles of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) by a man considered the first modern war correspondent; it is highlighted by vivid colour plates Bennett considers “the very best American battle scenes in existence.”

In the preface Kendall (1809-1867) tells us the plates are almost all based on sketches “drawn on the spot by the artist. So far as regards the general configuration of the ground, fidelity of the landscape, and correctness of the works and buildings introduced, they may be strictly relied upon… the greatest care has been taken to avoid inaccuracies.” A co-founder of the “New Orleans Picayune,” Kendall was already a well-known journalist when he began reporting on the war over Texas between the U.S. and Mexico. Firmly believing that Texas should join the Union, Kendall travelled with the U.S. troops led by Generals Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott, sending dispatches to the “Picayune” with unprecedented speed. He was sufficiently involved in battles to capture a Mexican cavalry flag and to be wounded in the knee. “Eyewitness to War” considers this work “the climax of the confluence of journalism and lithography”, declaring that the illustrations by Carl Nebel (1805-55) are “the eyewitness prints that must be compared against all others”, and noting that Kendall’s text was either a first-hand account or was based on “the official reports of the different commanders and their subordinates”. Of the dozen large folio views that comprise the value of this work, the most famous is the triumphant scene showing Scott’s entrance into Mexico City, with the U.S. flag flying over the National Palace.

Kendall and Nebel agreed that the latter’s paintings should be drawn on stone, printed, and hand coloured in Paris, where Nebel’s renowned series of fifty lithographic plates, Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la partie la plus intéressante du Méxique, had been produced. Both men travelled to France to supervise the project, undertaken by noted lithographer Adolphe Jean-Baptiste Bayot (1810-1866) and printer Joseph-Rose Lemercier (1803-1887), head of a leading Parisian workshop known for pioneering work in lithography. The “Picayune” praised the final result in a (perhaps biased, but not inaccurate) July 1850 review: “We have never seen anything to equal the artistic skill, perfection of design, marvellous beauty of execution, delicacy of truth of colouring, and lifelike animation of figures… They present the most exquisite specimens ever exhibited in this country of the art of coloured lithography; and we think that great praise ought to be awarded to Mr. Kendall for having secured such brilliant and beautiful and costly illustrations for the faithful record of the victories of the American army”.
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