[India — Travel and Sporting Sketchbook] — Lieut. Thomas Eden Blackwell

Oblong 4to (7 13/16 x 10 in.; 199 x 254 mm). 70 gray, white, and blue album leaves, 68 pen, ink, and pencil sketches, including two panoramas, most of which signed by Blackwell, mounted and bound in, with accompanying manuscript captions and lengthier descriptions; some toning and minor chipping to margins, some spotting to leaves, rarely affecting images. Full brown calf, borders with decorative blindstamp, spine with raised bands in four compartments, each with decorative gilt centrepiece; overall rubbing, some loss of calf, ownership inscription ("Lieut. Blackwell 13th Light Infantry. Indian, Burmese, and Swiss Sketches") in ink to front pastedown.  

Oblong 4to (7 13/16 x 10 in.; 199 x 254 mm). 70 gray, white, and blue album leaves, 68 pen, ink, and pencil sketches, including two panoramas, most of which signed by Blackwell, mounted and bound in, with accompanying manuscript captions and lengthier descriptions; some toning and minor chipping to margins, some spotting to leaves, rarely affecting images. Full brown calf, borders with decorative blindstamp, spine with raised bands in four compartments, each with decorative gilt centrepiece; overall rubbing, some loss of calf, ownership inscription ("Lieut. Blackwell 13th Light Infantry. Indian, Burmese, and Swiss Sketches") in ink to front pastedown.
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A fine collection of original sketches—executed by a British Army officer—outlining a variety of subjects, to include the habits and breeding of Arabia horses, Burmese monasteries, Swiss landscapes, and Indian culture and architecture. Blackwell's sketches are quite accomplished, showing equal skill in architectural and life drawing. Together, the range of subjects depicted here offers a rich and varied insight into the life of an officer, and the cultures he encountered.