THE BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS

THE BEAUTIES OF THE BOSPHORUS
ILLUSTRATED IN A SERIES OF VIEWS OF CONSTANTINOPLE AND ITS ENVIRONS, FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY W.H. BARTLETT

London, 1838

One volume bound in two, plus eighty hand-colored engraved plates (including an engraved title page and portrait in the first volume), plus a colored map. Full red calf, elaborate gilt boards and spines, gilt inner dentelles in a Greek key design.

Julia Pardoe had achieved great success with her illustrated travel narrative, CITY OF THE SULTAN, published the previous year. This volume was issued in its wake, to capitalize on her popularity. In this work Pardoe’s text supports the marvellous plates of William Henry Bartlett, a skilled topographical draughtsman. Bartlett travelled widely in the eastern Mediterranean, and produced handsome engravings such as these for a number of illustrated travel books. The illustrations in this volume depict the natives, architecture, ancient ruins and landscapes of Turkey, including views of St. Sophia, mosques, bazaars, homes, aqueducts, ports and public spaces.

This copy is notable for having all the plates in beautiful contemporary color, one of only a handful of such copies that I have been able to trace. The Blackmer copy, for example, had only three of the plates “colored very amateurishly”, and Atabey does not mention colored plates.