(War of 1812)

A Series of Four Views, to Illustrate the Naval Action Fought on the First Day of June, 1813, between the English Frigate Shannon, and the American Frigate Chesapeake. London: Smith, Elder, & Co, 1830

Broadsheets (19 x 25 in.; 483 x 635 mm). 4 lithographed plates by L. Haghe after John Christian Scherky, printed on india paper (15 1/4 x 18 1/2 in.; 387 x 470 mm) and mounted on larger sheets, letterpress description of the plates and general account of the battle, including a table of the force and size of the ships and of the casualties; neat repairs to several tears along fore-edge of plates. Stab-sewn in publisher’s printed blue wrappers; light soiling, a bit of marginal chipping and creasing, spine splitting with some repair. Blue cloth portfolio, large blue morocco label on front cover.

Sir James B. Arniston (contemporary signature on front wrapper) — Laird U. Park, Jr. (sale, Sotheby's New York, 29 November 2000, lot 367)

First edition; very rare. A Series of Four Views  depicts one of the best known frigate actions in history. The U.S.S. Chesapeake was one of six original frigates authorized in 1794 to form the United States Navy. She was under the command of James Lawrence when he made the fatal decision to leave Boston 1 June 1813 to fight the British frigate Shannon, which was offshore challenging the Chesapeake to engage in battle. After a fierce and annihilating battle that lasted all of eleven minutes, according to the documented account by British captain R. N. King, the Chesapeake surrendered. Of her crew, eighty-four men, including Captain Lawrence, were killed or mortally wounded and 115 others severely wounded. The Shannon lost thirty men and counted fifty-six wounded. The Chesapeake was taken to Halifax after her capture and thence to Britain.

The plates were drawn on stone after paintings by the Scottish artist John Christian Schetky (1778–1874), who is best known for his large depictions of naval battles and also for his illustrations of the Duke of Rutland’s lighter Sketches and Notes of a Cruise in Scotch Waters (1850). The first of the plates in A Series of Four Views depicts the Shannon challenging the Chesapeake, the following two are of the heated battle, and the fourth is of the Shannon towing her crippled prize into Halifax Harbor. The work is little known: no copies have been located in institutions, nor is the work recorded in the standard bibliographies. Only one other copy appears in the auction records since 1917.