WAKEFIELD, Edward (1796-1862) author [and William POTS (1859-1924) artist]

Lot 133
13.07.2023 10:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 2 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 993088
Lot 133 | WAKEFIELD, Edward (1796-1862) author [and William POTS (1859-1924) artist]
Estimate value
£ 2 000 – 3 000
WAKEFIELD, Edward (1796-1862) author [and William POTS (1859-1924) artist]

New Zealand Illustrated. The Story of New Zealand and Descriptions of its Cities and Towns...also (by various writers), the natural wonders of New Zealand (past and present). Wangani: A.D. Wiillis, 1889.

First edition, extremely rare in original boards. The plates were drawn by William Potts, an artist native to New Zealand. Here his compositions highlight the coexistence of the natural world and the growing presence of human habitation. Accompanying each plate is descriptive text that provides a brief history of the various national cities, as well as a brief history of New Zealand by local journalist and politician Edward Wakefield. The locales discussed are: 1. The story of New Zealand; 2. City of Auckland; 3. Town of Napier; 4. City of Wellington; 5. Town of Wanganui; 6. Town of New Plymouth; 7. Town of Nelson; 8. Town of Greymouth; 9. Port of Lyttelton; 10. City of Christchurch; 11. Town of Oamaru; 12. City of Dunedin; 13. Queenstown.



The final three sections of the book discuss natural wonders and disasters: 14. The Lost Terraces; 15. The Eruption; 16. The Wonders that Remain. These final beautiful plates capture what one of the authors describes as ‘the wonders of the world’. However, the most arresting design in this series of prints is the final-coloured chromolithograph depicting in large scale the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera located near Rotorua in the North Island, one of the deadliest natural disasters to ever befall New Zealand. Bobins IV, 1477.



Oblong folio (286 x 489mm). Chromolithographic frontispiece and 14 plates, one of which folding, and one uncoloured lithographic plate with three cave scenes (140mm tear to text leaf ‘The Wonders that Remain’ repaired with tape and with associated loss to a couple of letters, three short marginal tears to text leaves, folding plate with 75mm tear into image and short spilt at fold, and two other short marginal tears to plates, one into caption of the plate of Christchurch, some variable light soiling). Original publisher's glazed pictorial front cover and cloth rear cover (re-backed, preserving original cream glazed endpapers, extremities rubbed and lightly soiled).







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13.07.2023
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