Willis, N.P. "Das malerische und romantische Nordamerika" [The Art and Romance of America]

N. P. Willis. Das malerische und romantische Nordamerika. [The Art and Romance of America].

Leipzig: Theodor Thomas, circa. 1850. Pictures after W. H. Bartlett and engravings by A.H. Payne. Small quarto. Collation: iv, 170 pp., steel engravings with 74 images on 48 leaves. Some spotting and browning, but overall fine. Half leather binding with marbled boards. Gold stamping on spine. Howes, B-209; not in Sabin.

A lovely book and excellent series of pictures to show how German speaking people viewed the United States in the 1850s. Considering the migration to America out of Europe during and after the Revolutions of 1848, these pictures would have inspired great hope to those who traveled. The steel engravings are taken from Bartlett's famous images first issued in American Scenery. This German language variation contain almost all the images found in George Virtue's London and New York editions of this book are reduced in size-some slightly but other when two or four are on one page are considerably reduced. A fine and quite scarce travel book.