Hyperion: A Romance. Illustrated with Twenty-Four Photographs of the Rhine, Switzerland, and the Tyrol
London: Alfred William Bennett, 1865. Hardcover. Square quarto. viii, 270, [1]pp. (+ 24 interleaved plates) Red pebbled leather boards, with lavish gilt-stamped ruling and tooling to the covers and spine. Gilt lettering on the spine. Beveled edges. All edges of the book block in gilt. Dentelles.
This finely-produced edition of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1839 novel Hyperion is illustrated throughout with 24 original albumen photographs of landscapes and famous sites from the story by pioneering British photographer Francis Frith (1822-1898). Included are images from the Rhineland area of Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Tyrol. Examples of locations shown include: The Devil's Bridge at Schöllenen Gorge (Switzerland), Drachenfels/ Siebengebirge (Germany), Andernach (Germany), Stolzenfels Castle, Heidelberg Castle, Birkenau (Odenwald), Neckar river, Rhone Glacier (Switzerland), Innsbrück, and St. Wolfgang (Austria). Each photograph is guarded with tissue paper. A lovely example of an early photographically illustrated literary edition.
Also included throughout are smaller b/w engraved illustrations and engraved half-titles (separating each of the books), as well as decorative head and tailpieces.
Binding with some light rubbing to extremities. Light rubbing to the front hinge, and the spine. Interior with some very minor sporadic instances of smudges or foxing. Two small closed tears to the plate at p.100, one in the image and one in the margin below. Plate at p.30 with a closed tear in the margin. All images quite clean throughout. Book block tight. Binding in very good-, interior in very good condition overall. vg- to vg. Item #54481
Price: $275.00