Lot 31
Moore, Joseph
Eighteen Views taken at and near Rangoon
Auction: The Library of General Sir James Alexander | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 31 to 62
Description
[Bound with:] Marryat, [Frederick]. Six Coloured Prints Illustrative of the Combined Operations of the British Forces in the Birman Empire, 1824 and 1825. Second Series. London: Thomas Clay, 1826. First edition, 2 parts in 1 volume, folio (46.7 x 34cm), contemporary half calf, diapered pink cloth covers with decorative gilt lozenge lettered ‘Birman War 1824-5-6, Cornet J. E. Alexander, 13th Light Dragoons’ to front, engraved list of principal subscribers with mezzotint vignette after Thomas Stothard (1 p.), lithographic list of subscribers (6 pp.), stipple-engraved allegorical title-page after Stothard incorporating the dedication (1 p.), 24 hand-coloured aquatint plates (plate 14 marked ’Proof' lower right, plate 16 in second state with ‘adjacent’ corrected from 'ajacent', plates 7, 9, 14, 15, 17 and 22 with watermark ‘J. Whatman 1826’, Abbey citing a date of 1825 for all but plate 22, plates 12 and 19 with undated watermark ‘J. Whatman Turkey Mill’), original lithographic front wrapper bound in before each part, folding lithographic plan of Rangoon (26 x 38cm) and letterpress text bound in at rear, in 2 parts, 4to (25.8 x 19,5cm), [40], [8] pp., partially paginated, first part with watermarks ‘S & C 1824’ as in Abbey and including 2 initial leaves with caption-titles ‘Description of the Vignette attached to the First [-Second] Part of this Work’ (describing the list of principal subscribers and the allegorical title-page respectively), without the printer's device and imprint at end as mentioned in Abbey, second part with caption title ‘Notes to accompany the second series of coloured engravings …'. Binding rubbed, loss to leather at foot of spine, front free endpaper creased, ring-mark to margin of plate 10, engraved title-page and a few plates (18, 19, 20, 24) closely trimmed along fore edges, plate 7 closely trimmed at trimmed [Abbey Travel 404; Tooley 334]
Provenance
THE LIBRARY OF GENERAL SIR JAMES EDWARD ALEXANDER (1803-1885)
Footnote
First edition of this spectacular visual record of the First Anglo-Burmese War, acquired by British army officer General Sir James Edward Alexander as a young subaltern fresh from active service in the expedition. This copy notably retains the folding plan of Rangoon and the descriptive text, which are often absent.
Alexander travelled to India as a cadet in the Madras army in 1820 and was gazetted as a cornet in the 1st Madras Light Cavalry in 1821. In 1824 he was appointed adjutant of the bodyguard for his relation Sir Thomas Munro, Governor of Madras. In January 1825 he left the service of the East India Company and obtained a cornetcy in the 13th Light Dragoons, with whom he served in the field during the Burma campaign. He was gazetted lieutenant on half-pay in November 1825. Therefore his styling as a cornet in the personalised gilt-stamp on the front board would have become outdated during the course of the book's publication (the plates are dated between October 1825 and September 1826), the British binder presumably working in ignorance of Alexander's recent promotion.
A pencilled note by Alexander on the front free endpaper provides an extra level of detail regarding this first stage of his career: ‘Volunteered for service in Burmah, allowed to go in 1825 with 45 Regt. by means of Col. G. A. Wetherall after leaving 1st M L Cavalry, J. E. Alexander, 13th Light Dragoons'; he has also annotated the first page of text at the rear as Captain Alexander, to which rank he was promoted in 1830, so it is possible that the text was bound in later.