Wilkins / Nebel Mexican War Drawings

"THE CLIMAX OF THE CONFLUENCE OF JOURNALISM AND LITHOGRAPHY" KENDALL, George Wilkins (1809–1867) and Carl Nebel (1805–1855) (illust.) The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated, embracing pictorial drawings of all the principal conflicts, by Carl Nebel, author of "A picturesque and archæological voyage in Mexico," with a description of each battle, by Geo. Wilkins Kendall, author of "The Texan Santa Fé expedition," etc., etc. Paris: Plon brothers for New York: D. Appleton & Co. and Philadelphia: George S. Appleton, 1851. First edition. Here is what AI says it’s worth: $20,100. Cost: Sotheby’s London 28 Nov 2023, lot 44 - 12,065 GBP. Folio (22 7/8” x 17 3/16”, 578mm x 435mm): π2 1-132 [$1 signed]. 28 leaves, pp. i-iii iv (title, copyright, 2pp. preface), 1 2-52. With a lithographed map and 12 hand-colored lithographed plates (the plates loose, each window-matted, within a separate chemise) heightened in gum arabic. Bound in contemporary card wraps, backed in modern red cloth. On the front wrapper, the publisher’s red moiré cloth title-label gilt. Presented in a morocco-backed clam-shell case, with the text inset and the plates in a four-fold chemise. Tanning to the map; else near fine. Plates captioned in graphite manuscript. An exceptional set of a work seldom well-preserved. George Wilkins Kendall (1809–1867) and Carl Nebel (1805–1855) had each become distinguished for their publications, Kendall for his sensational account of capture and imprisonment in Mexico 1841–1842, Nebel for his picturesque Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la partie la plus intéressante du Méxique, with an introduction by no less than Alexander von Humboldt. The Mexican-American War of 1846–1848, which ended with the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the cession of some 55% of Mexico’s territory to the United States (including modern California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona), provided an opportunity for the two specialists to collaborate. The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated has been called “the climax of the confluence of journalism and lithography” (Martha Sandweiss, Rick Stewart and Ben W. Huseman. Eyewitness to War. Fort Worth, TX and Washington, D.C.: Amon Carter Museum and Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989; pp. 36-37), and it might be said that no publication did more to bring current events vividly to the eye of the public. Punishingly expensive ($34–40 depending on the binding), the work was carried out by Plon frères et Compagnie in Paris, where Kendall was reporting from 1848 while Nebel was still in Mexico drawing the views. The introduction underscores the journalistic aims of the work, including representing the fighting men in their “ordinary fatigue caps and dresses” rather than the showier but inaccurate full dress uniforms. Kendall has been dubbed the first modern war-correspondent, and his descriptions of the battles are distinct from the sensationalist and jingoistic accounts usually to be found in the press. Still, the publication is clear in its triumphalism; the famous depiction of Winfield Scott’s entrance into Mexico City, the flag of the United States flying, is the totem of Manifest Destiny. The work is very often to be found in tatters, and so the fine condition of this set, each plate being separately window-mounted on archival museum board, is of particular note. It would be a good candidate for framing and display. Bennett, American 19th Century Colour Plate Books, p. 65; Howes K 76 (“b”); Sabin 37362; Sandweiss-Stewart-Huseman op. cit., pp. 36-37.

估價:$30,000

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