John Webber, R.A. (1751-1793)
VAT rate of 17.5% is payable on hammer price plus … Read more
John Webber, R.A. (1751-1793)

Views in the South Seas: View in the Island of Cracatoa; A View in the Island of Pulo Condore; The Plantain Tree in the Island of Cracatoa; The Fan Palm in the Island of Cracatoa (Abbey Travel 595, pls. 4,14,15,16; Beddie 1872, nos 4, 14-16)

Details
John Webber, R.A. (1751-1793)
Views in the South Seas: View in the Island of Cracatoa; A View in the Island of Pulo Condore; The Plantain Tree in the Island of Cracatoa; The Fan Palm in the Island of Cracatoa (Abbey Travel 595, pls. 4,14,15,16; Beddie 1872, nos 4, 14-16)
handcoloured aquatints, published by Boydell (and successor), London, 1808[-20], with accompanying text, two plates watermarked '1820'
unframed
S.16 5/8 x 21¼in. (42.2 x 54cm.)
with a handcoloured aquatint by Webber of a 'View in Ulietea [Raiatea]' (Beddie 1869, ff.13-14, (1787), 1870) (5)
Provenance
C.G. Walton (Ulietea, signature on the reverse).
Special notice
VAT rate of 17.5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.

Lot Essay

These views were originally published by Webber himself, without letterpress, between 1 August 1788 and 1 August 1792, etched and coloured by himself, and were reproduced in aquatint for Views in the South Seas in 1808. The 'View of Ulietea [Raiatea]' is one of this earlier series of etchings not included in the later publication.

For a discussion of the various editions of Webber's Views in the South Seas (1786-1820) see R. Joppien and B. Smith, The Art of Captain Cook's Voyages, New Haven and London, III, Text, pp.192-96: 'Several years later the firm of Boydell ... decided to bring out a new edition of the plates, a folio volume entitled Views in the South Seas, from Drawings made by the late James Webber, Draftsman on board the Resolution, Captain James Cooke from the year 1776-1780 ... There are ... two differences from the earlier Views: each plate is accompanied by an excerpt from the official account on the opposite page and the plates are aquatinted and hand-coloured.' Later watermarks on the sheets (up to 1820) indicate that Boydell's successor continued to publish the plates without changing the Boydell platemark.

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