Gell, Sir William
Pompeiana: the topography, edifices and ornaments of Pompeii, the result of excavations since 1819.
London, Lewis A.Lewis 1837.
Full Description
8vo. 2 vols in 1. Engraved portrait of Sir W.Gell, (8) + xxiv + 198 pp ; (4) + 207 + (1)pp ; with (86) engraved plates in all (numbered I-LXXXVIII but plate nos LI/LII and LIV/LV each relate to one plate only) , of which one is hand-coloured and one partly hand-coloured, and 30 india-paper engraved vignette illustrations. Mid nineteenth century quarter calf, marbled boards (uniformly bound with the accompanying copy of the similar book by Gell and Gandy). Armorial bookplate of Alex.S.Gillespie, and later ink ownership inscriptions of Gardner family. Plates a little browned and slightly shaved at lower margin, with slight loss of engraved captions, also some offsetting from plates on to facing leaves.
The success of Sir William Gell and J.P. Gandy’s book of 1817-9 on the then newly excavated remains of Pompeii induced Gell to publish a second book on Pompeii in 1830-2 recording subsequent archaeological discoveries on the site, of which the present edition is a 1837 reissue. The two books are sometimes described as being a “first” and “second” series, but this was not how they were marketed at the time, and the easiest method of distinguishing between the two is to remember that the first book was by Gell and Gandy, and the present one was by Gell only. Librarians and collectors may well discover on checking that they possess one of them but not the other. BAL Cat 1193 (1832 edition).