Lear | Views in the Seven Ionian Islands, 1863

GREECE AND THE LEVANT, A PRIVATE LIBRARY, LOTS 157-213

LEAR, EDWARD

Views in the Seven Ionian Islands. London: Edward Lear, 1863

FIRST EDITION, folio (495 x 337mm.), hand-coloured lithographed title with vignette view and 20 plates, each with accompanying leaf of text, list of subscribers at end, original green cloth gilt by Day & Son, [Blackmer 987], minor marginal tears or staining, all contents loose (gutta-percha perished), spine slightly worn

From 1855 to 1858 and from 1861 to 1864 Lear more or less resided in Corfu. "He knew all the islands quite well: the drawings in this work were made during the spring of 1863. Their publication was planned to take advantage of the cession of the Ionian Islands to Greece in 1864" (Blackmer).