Hallewell, Edmund Gilling

Folio. 42 pen-and-ink, graphite and watercolor drawings (one with images recto and verso, the rest recto only), each mounted to larger sheets, many captioned in the image or on the mount, several signed by the artist; faint spotting to a few mounts. Expertly bound to style in half calf over period marbled paper covered boards, original red morocco label affixed to the upper cover.  Housed in a blue morocco backed box.

Gorham and Pierce, Through British Eyes: Images of Bermuda 1815-1860 (New York: 1996).

Extraordinary album of important early topographical watercolor views of Bermuda and vicinity by a noted British military officer including an important early panorama of castle harbour

Bermuda:
1) Fort Cunningham. Bermuda fr Long Island. 1844.
2) Entrance to Castle Harbour Bermuda.  1846.  Graphite and watercolour.  Panorama on three sheets joined and folded. 
3) Hamilton Bermuda from Signal Post Ports Island. 1846.
4) Looking S.W. / View of Hamilton Harbour Bermuda. 
5) From Brackish Pond Bay Bermuda...
6) Bermuda. 1852.  Graphite.
7) A Slaver taken by the American Navy vessel to Bermuda.
8) Fort Catherine Bermuda. 1843.  Graphite and watercolour.  Panorama on two sheets. 
9) Pembroke Church, Bermuda. 1842.  Graphite and watercolour.  
10) At Bermuda. 1844.  Graphite. 
11) Pembroke Church, Bermuda.  1843.  
12) Ireland Island Bermuda ... 1845.  
13) Fort St. George ... St. George's Bermuda looking N.W.
15) Ireland Id. Bermuda ... 1843.
16) Grave Yard. Ireland Id. Bermuda. Graphite. [Images of 7 tombstones on verso, 5 identified]
17) Ireland's Island from near Port's Id. 1845.
18) From Port's Island. 1845.

Caribbean:
19) Passing Deseada on the Voyage from Bermuda to Barbados.  Four sketches on one sheet. 
20) Govt. House Barbados. 1847.
21) Queen's House Barbados. 1847.
22) Highlands Sugar Works. 1847.
23) Govt. House Tobago. 1847.
24) Saint Lucia / The Small Piton. 1847. 
25) The Little Piton. St. Lucia. 1847.
26) Large Piton / Little Piton. St. Lucia 1847.
27) Saint Lucia. The Small Piton from Souffriere. 1847.
28) Drummond Rock off Martinique. 1847.
29) Little Piton & Mr. Goodman's House. 1847.
30) Gros Inlet Saint Lucia. 1847.
31) Scarbro Bay & Town, Tobago.
32) Barbados. 1847.
33) St. Johns. Barbados. 1847.
34) Hackleton's Cliff. Barbados. 1847.
35) Burnt District, Bridge Town, Barbados. 1847.
36) Sugar Works, Barbados. 1847. s.
37) Post Office at Courtland Bay Tobago.
38-39) Fontabelle, Barbados. With an additional watercolour view of Fontabelle on the verso.
40) Highland waterfall Tobago.
41) Capt. Hutchinson's Grave. 1847.
42) Nevis. 1847.  Graphite and watercolour. Panorama on two sheets, unjoined. 

Edmund Gilling Hallewell, Lieutenant and Adjutant of the 20th or East Devon Regiment, was stationed in Bermuda from 1841 to 1847. In addition to his military duties he also served as private secretary to the Governor, Colonel William Reid. He subsequently married Sophia Reid, the Governor's daughter.   In 1842, Hallewell, with Reid's encouragement, produced watercolours of scenes on the island. These were then sent by Reid to the Colonial Office in London.  Interest in the watercolours both in London and Bermuda was such that Hallewell published a suite of views in 1848. The suite was obviously issued in relatively small numbers and is now very rare: only two copies (one incomplete) are listed as having sold at auction in the past 35 years.

The present watercolors, retained by Hallewell, date from the same period and represent a significant depiction of Bermuda during this formative period. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Library holds an album of drawings (Gorham and Pierce 19) and we know of but eight other extant watercolors of Bermuda by Hallewell located at the Bermuda Historical Society Museum. 

We believe the present watercolors of Bermuda by Hallewell to be the only in private hands and perhaps the earliest watercolors of the island available.