MAGNIFICENT HAND-COLORED AQUATINT OF SANDY BAY VALLEY IN ST. HELENA, FROM HENRY SALT’S ELEPHANT FOLIO, 1809

SALT, Henry. Sandy Bay Valley in the Island of St. Helena. FROM: Twenty Four Views Taken in St. Helena, the Cape, India, Ceylon, Abyssinia & Egypt. London: William Miller, 1809. Original hand-colored aquatint, plate measures 25-1/2 by 19 inches; sheet measures 28-1/4 by 21 inches. Handsomely matted and framed, entire piece measures 32-1/2 by 26-1/2 inches. $3200.

Splendid, large, hand-colored aquatint of the picturesque Sandy Bay Valley in the island of St. Helena off the southwest coast of Africa, Plate I from Salt’s folio views of India, Egypt, Ceylon, Abyssinia, the Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena. Engraved by Daniel Havell.

In June 1802, Viscount Valentia (George Annesley) left England on the Minerva, for a Grand Tour of the East and "the first British mission to Abyssinia… to conclude an alliance to obtain a port in the Red Sea in case France, under Napoleon, should seize Egypt" (Abbey 515). As his official artist and secretary for the tour, Valentia appointed artist Henry Salt, who had recently finished his training with the topographical draughtsman and diarist, Joseph Farington. This wonderful plate by Salt depicts Sandy Bay Valley in the small south Atlantic island of St. Helena. Salt eventually became British Consul-General in Egypt, where he died at the age of 47. The engraver, Daniel Havell, was a member of the renowned English family firm of artists and engravers, which included Robert and William, "publishers of topographical and architectural works distinguished by a delicacy of line" (Grove). See Abbey, Travel 515 (plate 2); Tooley 440.

Some foxing, minor soiling to plate; three small marginal repairs, not touching plate. An extremely good lithograph.