Sketches In Flanders And Holland; With Some Account Of A Tour Through Parts Of Those Countries, Shortly After The Battle Of Waterloo; In A Series Of Letters To A Friend: - By Robert Hills. -
London:: Printed By J. Haines And J. Turner, Margaret Street, Cavendish Square. And Sold By John Booth, Duke Street, Portland Place; R. Ackerman, 101, Strand; And W.H. Pyne, No. 9, Nassau Street, Soho. -, 1816.
Physical Description
viii, 215, [1] p., frontis. (port.), 36 pl. (pl. 13 is folding); 331 mm. (Quarto.)
General Note
Some copies do not have the frontispiece portrait of Robert Hills. In some copies page [216] carries the publisher's advertisement; in others this page is blank and the advertisement is guarded in. In some copies all plates are coloured.
Contents
[Half-t., frontis., t.p.] - Preface - Index To The Plates - [Text and plates] - Index; [colophon] - [Publisher's advertisement, 'The Following Works By Robert Hills, May Be Had Of The Publishers Of This Book ...'].
Responsibility Note
The frontispiece portrait is signed by '[name cropped in binding] R.A.' The plates are unsigned, but a printed note at the head of the 'Index To The Plates' states, 'The Outlines have been etched by the Author, and aquatinted by the Engravers whose Names are placed opposite each.' These names are those of J. Hill, J.C. Stadler and D. Havell, with one plate by J. Bailey.
Each plate carries the publisher's imprint of R. Hills and the date (Jan 1 1816).
The printers' names are repeated in the colophon.
References
Travel in Aquatint And lithography 1770 - 1860 From The Library Of J.R. Abbey Volume I ... A Bibliographical catalogue Volume I (1972; repr. 1991), nos. 186, 187, p.166-8; L. Harrmann, 'Robert Hills at Waterloo', in The Connoisseur, 150 (1962), p.174-7; Watercolours by Robert Hills [exhibition catalogue] (1968); The Royal Watercolour Society: the first fifty years, 1805-1855 (1992).
Summary Note
The publication-date of 1816 is also given on each plate (Jan. 1 1816).
The frontispiece portrait is captioned, 'Robert Hills'. The numbered plates are uncaptioned, but are described in the Index To The Plates. They show landscapes and some townscapes in Belgium and Holland, and the activities of local people, sometimes with their animals. Several plates show more than one view.
The plates are aquatints. Five are hand-coloured (pl. 20, 21, 22, 35, 36).
Provenance
A preliminary leaf is inscribed in ink, 'Presented to the Royal Academy by Geo Smith Decr. 4th. 1874.'
Binding Note
19th-century half red morocco, red cloth-covered boards; gilt-decorated spine lettered 'Hills's Sketches In Flanders & Holland.' and 'R.A.'
Landscapes (environments) - British - Belgians - Dutch - Description and travel - Belgium - Holland - History - 19th century
Drawings - Landscapes (representations) - Travel sketches - Belgium - Holland - 19th century
Travel literature - Great Britain - 19th century
Pictorial works - Aquatints - Hand coloring - Great Britain - 19th century