Harlow, Louis Kinney

Folio (18 15/16 x 16 3/4 ins.; 475 x 420 mm). Mounted on guards throughout. 1p. 'Descriptive Index' printed in red and blue on card (verso blank), 12 mounted tinted (2) or chromolithographed (10) plates, the first plate with an integral title on a plain card mount, the 11 others with card mounts decorated with tinted lithographic vignettes to lower corners, all 12 of the mounts with thin small format paper labels laid onto the verso, each label printed in blue with the plate number, title, and sub-title or related text; corners of cards chipped, some minor soiling to patterned pastedowns. Expertly bound to style in deep purple half morocco over original dark red cloth-covered boards, the upper cover with a gilt and black centrally-placed semi-relief vignette incorporating the title, red cloth ties, white pattern paper endpapers.

Very rare: one of the great American chromolithographically illustrated works.

Only five copies are recorded by OCLC, none outside the United States. Harlow, who was born in Maine, lived in Boston and was both an etcher and painter. His subjects (unlike the present series) were usually landscapes, and he provided the colour lithographer Louis Prang with a stream of watercolour views of New England that were used in his illustrated works. The present series demonstrate Koch's mastery of both the technical aspects of printing as well as the aesthetic problems presented in the design of the book. The subjects include generic views of army life as well as portraits of specific individuals: Grant at Vicksburg with Generals Sherman, Logan and McPherson; and a second portrait of General Sherman on horseback at the outset of his armies' march to the sea.