A Ramble in Malta and Sicily, in the Autumn of 1841 ... Illustrated with Sketches taken on the Spot, and drawn on Stone by the Author
London, Smith, Elder, and Co., 1842.
Super royal octavo, viii, 168, [2] (list of subscribers) pages with 2 in-text woodcut illustrations, plus an additional ornate colour-pictorial title leaf, lithographed dedication leaf, and 12 tinted lithographs with tissue-guards (all versos blank). There is a pagination irregularity - there is no leaf numbered 161-2, but the book is complete.
Original blind-decorated blue ribbed cloth with a view of Mount Etna blocked in gilt at the centre of both covers, and the spine lettered and decorated in gilt, all edges gilt; cloth sunned on the spine, and a little marked, rubbed and flecked; blank margin of one plate and an adjacent leaf (both detached at one stage) slightly nibbled and lightly discoloured; overall an excellent copy with minimal expert conservation work done to the gutter of one opening.
A pleasing association copy of Angas's first illustrated book, with the name of his father, George Fife Angas, in pencil on the front endpaper in a later secretarial hand, indicating (in our experience) that the book came originally from his personal library. Also present on the inside surfaces of the front and rear flyleaves (written upside down, and now with an erasure, on the latter) are the ownership details of 'Mr Joseph Angas, Authors [sic] Hill, Newcastle, 1842' (the author's uncle). Both George Fife Angas and 'Josh. Angas' (presumably Joseph) appear in the list of subscribers; there are 179 names accounting for 197 copies. Joseph predeceased his younger brother George (who, in 1857 in South Australia 'was elected to the first Legislative Council under responsible government. Soon afterwards his brother Joseph's fatal illness took him to England. He returned in September 1859' [Australian Dictionary of Biography]). This book may well have returned with him.
Item #104839
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