ALLASON, Thomas.- Picturesque views of the antiquities of Pola in Istria. LONDON, JOHN MURRAY, 1819.

In-f° : front.-[8]-67 pp., 9 plates (error of pagination without loss (signature consistent) some leaves partially or totally loose, foxing and staining). Contemporary threequarter binding : brown calf's leather, large red morocco label with gilt-tooled title on upperboard, flat gilt spine (heavily worn, book-block almost loose). Estimé : 400 / 500 €

Note: First and unique edition, complete of the 10 full-page engravings and 4 vignettes, the whole delicately engraved by W.B. Cooke, George Cooke, Cosmo Armstrong and Henry Moses after the drawings of Thomas Allason. Featuring the Roman ruins (the amphitheatre, the temple of Augustus, the arch of Sergh....) of Pola (today : Pula) with their explanatory descriptions followed by a short overview on the stirring history of the largest city in Istria, situated at the southern tip of the peninsula. After the collapse of the Venetian Republic in 1797, the harbour became a part of the Habsburg Monarchy later named the Austro- Hungarian Empire and Austria's main naval base (except from 1805 till 1813 when it was a part of the Kingdom of Italy).
Copy printed on paper of Whatman' Turkey Milles, 1818 (text and plates). According to Brunet however the edition was printed on 3 papers : superieur imperial paper (text and plates), imperial paper with the plates on «Papier de France» and imperial paper with the plates on Chinese paper.
# Brunet I-188; # Blackmer n° 362; # not in Fowler; # nor in Cicognara; # nor in Berlin Kat.

Édition originale et unique contenant 10 h.-t. et 4 vignettes gravés d'après Thomas Allason et figurant les ruines romaines de Pola (aujourd'hui Pula), la plus grande ville d'Istrie en Croatie. Demi-cuir à coins de l'époque (us.).

Etude Godts Bruxelles. Livres Anciens et Modernes. Vente du 15 janvier 2008