Premium pages left without account:

Auction archive: Lot number 671

HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803). Campi Phlegraei. Observations on the Volcanos of the two Sicilies as They have been communicated to the Royal Society of London. Naples: sold by Pietro Fabris, 1776.

Auction 16.12.2004
16 Dec 2004
Estimate
US$20,000 - US$30,000
Price realised:
US$53,775
Auction archive: Lot number 671

HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803). Campi Phlegraei. Observations on the Volcanos of the two Sicilies as They have been communicated to the Royal Society of London. Naples: sold by Pietro Fabris, 1776.

Auction 16.12.2004
16 Dec 2004
Estimate
US$20,000 - US$30,000
Price realised:
US$53,775
Beschreibung:

HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803). Campi Phlegraei. Observations on the Volcanos of the two Sicilies as They have been communicated to the Royal Society of London. Naples: sold by Pietro Fabris 1776. 2 parts in one volume, 2 o (447 x 332 mm). Text in English and French. Double-page hand-colored engraved map by Giuseppe Guerra after Fabris and 53 (of 54, lacking plate 4) hand-colored etched plates numbered 1-54 after Fabris. 19th-century half calf (broken). FIRST EDITION OF HAMILTON'S "MAGNIFICENT PUBLICATION" (Jenkins and Sloan). Although Hamilton's Observations on Mount Vesuvius (published by the Royal Society in 1772) was well-received at the time and ran to three editions, the Campi Phlegraei is the best known of Hamilton's four works on volcanic activity, and "provided a clearer, more precise and useful explanation of volcanic activity than ever published before, which underlined Hamilton's own theories about volcanoes being creative forces and enabled him to answer in one publication the lists of questions about volcanoes and rocks he had been receiving from correspondents all over Europe. Its publication in French and English provided it with a market not only in his own country but throughout Europe as well, and an international audience for a British discovery" (Jenkin and Sloan). Pietro Fabris (fl.1756-1784), an artist living in Naples, was commissioned and trained by Hamilton to sketch the volcanoes of southern Italy. In four years Hamilton climbed Vesuvius at least twenty-two times, sometimes at great risk, since both he and Fabris wished to make sketches at every stage of the eruptions (the figures of Hamilton, often wearing a red coat, and Fabris, in blue, appear in the plates). The plates are so opaquely colored that the engraved base beneath is hardly visible: indeed, Hamilton himself describes them as "executed with such delicacy and perfection, as scarcely to be distinguished from the original drawings themselves" (Part I, p. 6). Hamilton then asked Fabris to undertake the publication of his letters to the Royal Society, to be illustrated by engravings after the orginal drawings. Fabris was the sole distributor of the work, which was originally published at 60 Neapolitan ducats for Part I and Part II. Brunet III, 31 ("Ouvrage curieux et bien exicuté"); ESTC T71231 (parts I-II); I. Jenkins and K. Sloan Vases and Volcanoes (London: 1996), 'Catalogue' 43; Lewine p.232; Lowndes II, p.989.

Auction archive: Lot number 671
Auction:
Datum:
16 Dec 2004
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Rockefeller Center
Beschreibung:

HAMILTON, Sir William (1730-1803). Campi Phlegraei. Observations on the Volcanos of the two Sicilies as They have been communicated to the Royal Society of London. Naples: sold by Pietro Fabris 1776. 2 parts in one volume, 2 o (447 x 332 mm). Text in English and French. Double-page hand-colored engraved map by Giuseppe Guerra after Fabris and 53 (of 54, lacking plate 4) hand-colored etched plates numbered 1-54 after Fabris. 19th-century half calf (broken). FIRST EDITION OF HAMILTON'S "MAGNIFICENT PUBLICATION" (Jenkins and Sloan). Although Hamilton's Observations on Mount Vesuvius (published by the Royal Society in 1772) was well-received at the time and ran to three editions, the Campi Phlegraei is the best known of Hamilton's four works on volcanic activity, and "provided a clearer, more precise and useful explanation of volcanic activity than ever published before, which underlined Hamilton's own theories about volcanoes being creative forces and enabled him to answer in one publication the lists of questions about volcanoes and rocks he had been receiving from correspondents all over Europe. Its publication in French and English provided it with a market not only in his own country but throughout Europe as well, and an international audience for a British discovery" (Jenkin and Sloan). Pietro Fabris (fl.1756-1784), an artist living in Naples, was commissioned and trained by Hamilton to sketch the volcanoes of southern Italy. In four years Hamilton climbed Vesuvius at least twenty-two times, sometimes at great risk, since both he and Fabris wished to make sketches at every stage of the eruptions (the figures of Hamilton, often wearing a red coat, and Fabris, in blue, appear in the plates). The plates are so opaquely colored that the engraved base beneath is hardly visible: indeed, Hamilton himself describes them as "executed with such delicacy and perfection, as scarcely to be distinguished from the original drawings themselves" (Part I, p. 6). Hamilton then asked Fabris to undertake the publication of his letters to the Royal Society, to be illustrated by engravings after the orginal drawings. Fabris was the sole distributor of the work, which was originally published at 60 Neapolitan ducats for Part I and Part II. Brunet III, 31 ("Ouvrage curieux et bien exicuté"); ESTC T71231 (parts I-II); I. Jenkins and K. Sloan Vases and Volcanoes (London: 1996), 'Catalogue' 43; Lewine p.232; Lowndes II, p.989.

Auction archive: Lot number 671
Auction:
Datum:
16 Dec 2004
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Rockefeller Center
Try LotSearch

Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!

  • Search lots and bid
  • Price database and artist analysis
  • Alerts for your searches
Create an alert now!

Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.

Create an alert