Skip to main content
< Return to search results
|  
Item #43029 An Impartial Historical Narrative of those Momentous Events which have Taken Place in this Country During the Period from the Year 1816 to 1823. Robert BOWYER, publisher.
Open Lightbox
An Impartial Historical Narrative of those Momentous Events which have Taken Place in this Country During the Period from the Year 1816 to 1823
An Impartial Historical Narrative of those Momentous Events which have Taken Place in this Country During the Period from the Year 1816 to 1823
An Impartial Historical Narrative of those Momentous Events which have Taken Place in this Country During the Period from the Year 1816 to 1823
An Impartial Historical Narrative of those Momentous Events which have Taken Place in this Country During the Period from the Year 1816 to 1823

An Impartial Historical Narrative of those Momentous Events which have Taken Place in this Country During the Period from the Year 1816 to 1823

London: Printed by Thomas Bensley for Robert Bowyer, 1823. Folio. (20 1/2 x 15 3/8 inches). [i-ii], 1-56 pp. 8 engraved plates, including 3 finely hand-coloured aquatints, all proof impressions.

Contemporary morocco-backed paper boards, neatly repaired, original printed paper label on the upper board, spine gilt

A finely illustrated Regency record of royal crisis and public spectacle, centered on the Queen Caroline affair and the coronation of George IV.

Published in the aftermath of one of the most public royal scandals of the early nineteenth century, Bowyer's Impartial Historical Narrative presents the years 1816 to 1823 through events surrounding the House of Hanover: the death of Princess Charlotte, the death of George III, the accession of George IV, the proceedings against Queen Caroline in the House of Lords, and the coronation of the King in 1821. The work is attributed to Robert Bowyer, the miniature painter and print publisher whose ambitious illustrated historical works had already included the Napoleonic wars and the Battle of Waterloo. The volume is especially valued for its three large hand-coloured aquatints: "Arrival, at Brandenburgh House, of the Watermen, &c. with an Address to the Queen on the 3d October 1820"; "The Queen Returning from the House of Lords"; and "The Coronation of His Majesty, George the Fourth: Taken at the Time of the Recognition, July 19, 1821." Together they move from popular demonstration on the Thames to parliamentary drama and finally to the ceremonial magnificence of Westminster Abbey. The Brandenburgh House plate, with its crowded river procession and dense public attendance along the bank, records the extraordinary support shown for Queen Caroline during the proceedings brought against her. The coronation plate, engraved by Matthew Dubourg after James Stephanoff, is among the most elaborate printed images of George IV's ceremony, showing the Gothic interior, massed spectators, peers, clergy, and officers of state at the moment of recognition. The uncoloured plates extend the documentary character of the work. They include "A Tribute of Respect to His Late Majesty King George the Third," with medallions of Princess Charlotte and Queen Caroline and the cenotaph designed by Matthew Cotes Wyatt; "View of the Interior of the House of Lords, during the Important Investigation in 1820," engraved by John George Murray after Stephanoff; an accompanying key plate; and two plates of facsimile autographs of the royal family, peers, officials, and other figures connected with the proceedings.

Abbey, Scenery, 259; Tooley 99; Prideaux, p. 328.

Item #43029

Price: $2,000.00

See all items by ,