New Zealand. - Rare Book Insider
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RAPKIN, J. & [TALLIS, John].

New Zealand.

London -1856.: 1851
  • $489
Original steel engraved map, accompanied by vignette scenes of Auckland, Wellington and Mount Egmont. Illustration of a Maori to centre right edge. Decorative scrolling and title cartouche around the edges of the image. (Map 22 x 29.5 cm, overall sheet 27.5 x 36 cm). Original outline colour. Centrefold crease as issued. An excellent copy. For the Great Exhibition in 1851 John Tallis (1817-1876) worked with engraver John Rapkin (1815-1876) to publish the 'Illustrated World Atlas', whose maps were later re-issued by the London Printing and Publishing Company. Their maps are prized for their wonderful steel-engraved vignettes showing the peoples, customs, architecture, landmarks, flora, and fauna of each country.
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Midsummer Night’s Dream. Act IV. Scene I. A Wood. Titiana, Queen of the Fairies, Bottom, Fairies attending &c. &c. [with] Midsummer Night’s Dream. Act IV. Scene I. Oberon, Queen of the Fairies, Puck, Bottom and Fairies attending &c.

2 original copper-engravings (plate marks c.44 x 60 cm, overall dimensions c.55 x 68.5 cm) after the paintings by Henry Fuseli. Fuseli had become familiar with William Shakespeare's plays as a student in Zürich. He used them as the basis for paintings throughout his career. He became famous for his treatment of supernatural matters, which gave a special appeal to A Midsummer Night's Dream, along with plays like The Tempest, Hamlet and Macbeth. Some light toning and spotting to margins, generally very good. A beautiful pair of engravings. From "A Collection of Prints . Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare." published by Boydell, London, 1803. In 1789, the publisher John Boydell opened the Shakespeare Gallery, an exhibition space in London's Pall Mall showcasing paintings that exclusively represented scenes from Shakespeare's plays. The Gallery was a bid to revive 'history painting' (the practice of depicting scenes from the Bible, mythology or the classics) in contemporary British art, a genre thought to be of great public benefit because of its morally instructive messages. What better unifying theme for such a project than the works of Shakespeare, which had become so popular and so integral to British identity by the mid-18th century? The Gallery opened in May 1789 with 34 canvases by 18 British artists. By the next year there were 55 paintings and in 1796 the total was 84, along with dozens of 'Small Pictures'. Once the exhibition was mounted, reproductive engravings of the paintings produced by an in-house team of 46 printmakers were available to purchase, either as a large portfolio of 90 prints or as a luxurious illustrated edition of the plays. (The British Library)