A selection of views in Egypt, Palestine, Rhodes, Italy, Minorca, and Gibraltar, by Reverend C. Willyams [Cooper Willyams]. London: Printed by J.F. Dove for John Hearne, 1822. English and French.
A volume with 36 fine hand-colored aquatint plates depicting views and sites in the countries of the Mediterranean Basin, including a few aquatints depicting Haifa and the Carmel. With geographical and historical description, in English and French, to each plate. The aquatints were made by Joseph Constantine Stadler, after drawings by Cooper Willyams.
British clergyman and artist Cooper Willyams (1762-1816) was the chaplain of HMS Swiftsure during the Battle of the Nile (in this naval battle, in August 1798, the British Royal Navy led by Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the French Navy led by Napoleon Bonaparte). After the battle, the Swiftsure remained in Aboukir Bay and when it sailed to Acre in 1799, Willyams visited Haifa, creating several drawings of its views and residents. His memoires from the battle of the Nile and his service on the Swiftsure were first published in 1802 in the book "A Voyage Up the Mediterranean in His Majesty's Ship the Swiftsure", with 32 plates after the drawings he had created at the time. This second edition, published posthumously, features the 32 plates published in 1802, re-aquatinted, alongside four new plates.
[2] ff., 36 pp. + [36] plates (some with tissue guards), approx. 40 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains. Dampstains and damp damage. Tears and minor creases to margins of title page. Small open tear to one leaf. Tears to edges of last plate (not affecting the aquatint). Two of the plates are mounted on paper (for reinforcement). New binding.