A Picturesque Voyage to India; by the Way of China.

FIRST EDITION, 50 fine hand-coloured aquatint plates on thick paper, each accompanied by explanatory text, at least 2 leaves watermarked “Whatman 1808’, Introduction and Cape of Good Hope leaves printed upside down to versos, faint blindstamp to title, occasional light offsetting, photocopied bookplate of Thomas Bulkeley-Owen pasted to front endpaper, contemporary gilt calf, a.e.g., rebacked with original spine, hinges reinforced, boards a little rubbed, oblong folio, London, Thomas Davison for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and W. Daniell, 1810.

‘A collection of beautifully coloured engravings illustrating places and scenes of interest on the voyage from Gravesend to China and India.’ (Mendelssohn).

Thomas Daniell had received permission from the East India Company in 1784 to travel to India, accompanied by his nephew, William, with their travels documented through these illustrations. The Daniells left England in April 1785 on board the Indiaman Atlas, going via Madeira, the Cape of Good Hope and Java, arriving in Whampoa, China, in August. Having spent several months in China they then sailed on to Calcutta.

The journey, financed in part by the sale of oil paintings of their travels, was documented in William’s journal and by the publication of Oriental Scenery in 1795-1808 and A Picturesque Voyage to India, by the Way of China in 1810. The album opens with the Indiaman’s departure from Gravesend and includes, among others, depictions of the East Indies and the Straits of Malacca. The majority of the views depict native life in Java (including shark fishing) and nautical scenes along the Chinese coast and Canton River, with some scenes of Chinese dress and manners.

“Thomas Daniell played an instrumental role in graphically documenting a wide geographical and cultural range of sites across the Indian subcontinent, travelling more extensively than any of his contemporary colonial artists, and earning him the title ‘artist-adventurer’. Assisted by his nephew, Daniell made three tours: from Calcutta to Srinagar (1788-91), a circular tour from Mysore to Madras (1792-3), and in 1793 they visited Bombay and its temple sites-always sketching, drawing, and painting intensively as they travelled” (ODNB).

The Daniells’ original watercolours for the scenes depicted herein are now at the Yale Center for British Art, Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, bound with a printed copy of the work

Provenance:

Radnorshire County Library blind stamp to title

Bookplate of Thomas Bulkeley-Owen.

[Abbey Travel 516; Colas 797; Lipperheide 1523; Mendelssohn I, p.413; Tooley 173]