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BURY, Thomas Talbot (1811-1877)
Coloured Views on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, with plates of the coaches, machines, &c. from drawings made on the spot... with descriptive particulars, serving as a guide to travellers on the railway
London: F. Shoberl for Ackermann & Co., sold by R. Ackermann, jun., 1833 [text watermarked 1829-1832; plates 1831-1833]. Quarto (13 1/4 x 10 7/8 inches). 16 hand-coloured aquatint plates (13 by S.G.Hughes or H.Pyall after T.T.Bury, 3 folding by S.G. Hughes [2 after I. Shaw, 1 unsigned]), extra-illustrated with a cancel title from 1831 issue. (Folding plates with folds reinforced on verso with linen [as issued]). Expertly bound to style in red straight-grained half morocco over contemporary green paper-covered boards, the upper cover with an onlaid contemporary red straight-grained morocco title label, lettered and tooled in gilt, the spine divided into eight compartments by triple fillets, repeat overall decoration in each compartment, original grey/brown paper wrappers to the 1831 issue bound in.
Third edition, with the additional plate and the title to the first edition bound in. An eye-witness account of travel on the world's second practical railway line, with plates after Bury, "an outstanding architectural designer" (Abbey) and a detailed report of the difficulties overcome during the railways construction.
Thomas Bury `a pupil of Augustus Pugin, was the artist responsible for the best-known views of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Published as hand-coloured aquatints in paper covers by Ackermann in February 1831 [titled Six Coloured Views of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, with a plate of the coaches, machines, &c], Bury's work went through many editions covering a period of about three years. There were seven views in the first edition and thirteen in the second. A reissue appeared in 1832 followed by Spanish and French editions, while the prints were reproduced separately in France and Germany. After re-engraving, new editions appeared in England in 1833 and 1834 ... Ackermann clearly realized the potential of the British and European markets for railway prints as no other work passed through so many editions' (Rees). The present copy includes the first state of one of the two folding plates of carriages and engines: before canopies were added to the lower set of carriages. The view of the interior of the Wapping to Edge Hill tunnel is in a later state (possibly the fifth) dated 1833 and after the removal of the steaming train (the train was a mistake as no train under steam was allowed in the tunnel).
The inspiration for the project to build the railway was the success of the Stockton to Darlington rail line and the urgent commercial need for faster links between the docks of Liverpool and the factories of Manchester ("goods have been known to make the transit from New York to Liverpool in less time than from the latter town to Manchester.") The route was proposed in 1824 and, under the direction of George Stephenson and with parliament's blessing, the immense work was completed by 1830: the line being opened to the public on the 15th September of that year. Despite the tragic death of the Liverpool member of parliament Mr. Huskisson (the first fatality attributable to the Railways) and the huge cost of the work (£ 740,000 by 1830), the railway was an immediate popular and financial success. Speeds in excess of 30 m.p.h. were recorded for the 31 mile journey and as the author predicted in the final paragraph "The success of this experiment… has been….so complete, as to justify the anticipation of the speedy introduction of railways throughout the country.." The plates include three plates of the train and rolling stock employed on the railway, and 13 others of views of the railway in operation.
Abbey Life 400; Gareth Rees Early Railway Prints (1980) p.21 and see plates 5-9 & 13; Tooley 120
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#13867 $12,500.00 
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© 2002-2005 Donald A. Heald
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