PBA Galleries

2 volumes together. [8], 228;  [6], 224 pp. Illustratrated with 53 mounted albumen photographs, by W.R. Sedgfield, G.W. Wilson, F. Bedford, T. Ogle, et al. 22x16.5 cm (8¾x6½), Vol. I in original green cloth with beveled edges and inset photographic roundels of views looking over a brook towards the towers of Kenilworth Castle, gilt ornamental borders, lettered in gilt on spine, all edges gilt; Vol. II rebound in leather-backed cloth, lettered in gilt on spine, raised bands, all edges gilt, fresh endpapers. First Editions.

This was the first use of photographs on a book cover, probably taken by Stephen Thompson, to whom are credited three other photographs of the castle in the book. In their preface the authors note that with the inclusion of photographs "The reader is no longer left to suppose himself at the mercy of the imaginations, the caprices, or the deficiencies of artists, but to have before him the genuine presentment of the object under consideration."