Cronau, Rudolf "Amerika. Die Geschichte seiner Entdectung von der Altesten bis aus die Neueste Zeit"

Rudolf Cronau. Amerika. Die Geschichte seiner Entdectung von der Altesten bis aus die Neueste Zeit. 

Leipzig: Ubel & Muller, 1892. 2 vols. Quarto. I: [iii]-viii, 480pp., plus 24 full and double pages of prints and maps; II: [iii]-vi, 532pp., plus 31 full and double pages of prints and maps. Original gold stamped red buckram covers and spines. Page ends gilt. Expertly rehinged. Exquisite endpages. 

In 1881, Rudolf Cronau (1855-1939) was sent to the United States as a special correspondent for the German newspaper Die Gartenlaube. His assignment was to produce a series of articles documenting American landscapes, cities, Native Americans, and life on the frontier. Cronau traveled all about of the country, writing his articles and producing pen & ink drawings. Upon his return to Germany in 1886, Cronau published, in two parts, a portfolio of collotypes based on his best drawings. Cronau's interest in the United States remained strong and so he produced this illustrated history of America, containing a recapitulation of works from Cortez to Bodmer. The volumes include a number of maps and prints by different artists, but including some of Cronau's own illustrations that appear nowhere else.