Beyer, Edward

ILLUSTRATION: 6 tinted lithographs, “Taken from Nature by Ed. Beyer”, printed by Rau & Son, Dresden, entered 1857 [but published 1858], “Rockfish Gap and the Mountain House. Central R.R. Augusta Co. Va.” — “The High Bridge near Farmville” — “Yellow Sulphur Springs” — “U. S. Armory in Harpers Ferry” — “The Little Tunnel near Shawsville” — “Viaduct on Cheat River”. 

Framed. Some foxing, barely affecting images.

Bennett p.10; Deak Picturing America 721; Howes B413 ("b"); Sabin 5125

Edward Beyer was a German artist who visited the United States in the early 1850's. He chose to concentrate his work on Virginia and Kentucky, spending three years in Virginia working on the original drawings for this book. Although the title-page gives Richmond as a place of printing, the book was actually produced in Germany, with the plates being prepared in Dresden and the letterpress in Berlin. The superb tinted lithograph views include beautiful natural scenes, Harper's Ferry, White Sulphur Springs, railroad bridges and tunnels (e.g Highbridge near Farmville), views in Weyer's Cave, and scenes at many of the fashionable resorts which nestled amid the mountains of Southwest Virginia.  Deak writes of Beyer: "He was taken by the beauty of the Virginia landscape, particularly by the elegant settings of some of the region's watering places...Virginians responded warmly to Beyer's enterprise and often gave him advance access to architectural plans when these could be of help to him. There was probably no Virginia county that Beyer left unvisited in his zeal to present what is, in fact, an affectionate family album of an entire state." Deak praises Beyer's "delicate and precise style" and "characteristic refinement of proportion."