Skip to main content
Item #40199 Villas on the Hudson. A. A. TURNER, c.
Villas on the Hudson
Villas on the Hudson
Villas on the Hudson
Villas on the Hudson

Villas on the Hudson

New York: D. Appleton, 1860. Folio. (19 1/4 x 13 1/2 inches). 31 lithographic plates with gold-printed frames and legends, some with one or two-color tinting, with 21 additional plates of floor plans. Preliminary blank leaf with penciled owner's signature "Gallier"

Publishers black half morocco with green cloth, front board with gilt-stamped title and author

Provenance: James Gallier, Jr. (1827-1868)

A complete copy in fine condition of the first photo-lithographic book produced in America.

This book is the first large-scale use of photo-lithography in the United States, a medium which did not come into general use for another two decades. Its views are based on photographs made by Turner of large homes along the Hudson River, from upper Manhattan Island to Dobbs Ferry; i.e. mainly summer or pleasure homes of wealthy New Yorkers, and often exhibiting extravagant or playful architecture. The villas are remarkably lavish and some show considerable whimsy. Turner took the pictures in 1858 and 1859, and this lavish work appeared on the eve of the Civil War. All of the views have at least one additional color, and most two (either brown or green, or both) applied by stencil, with the picture inside a gilt printed border. The images have a slightly surreal quality which adds to the appeal of this remarkable book. Formerly in the library of eminent New Orleans architect James Gallier, Jr.

Hitchcock 1275; Truthful Lens 173; Stamped With a National Character, 62.

Item #40199

Price: $9,500.00

See all items in Colour-Plate & Illustrated
See all items by ,