The Topography Of Troy And Its Vicinity; Illustrated And Explained By Drawing And Descriptions. Dedicated By Permission, To Her Grace The Duchess Of Devonshire

London: T.N. Longman And O.Rees, 1804. First edition. Hardcover. Half tan modern antique niger, original marbled sides, spine gilt with morocco lettering-piece gilt, bound by W. Forth with contemporary binders' ticket. Near fine. 124 pages. Folio, 43.5 x 27.5 cm. Hand-colored engraved vignette on title-page, 31 engraved and aquatint plates on 30 sheets, 3 of which folding, and 14 mostly hand-colored vignettes, numbered 1-45. One of "the most beautiful book on Troy ever published" (Lascarides). Gell's pioneer work placed the ancient city of Troy at Bounarbashi -- just three miles south of the currently accepted site of Troy at Hisarlik. Gell, known for his rapid sketching ability, used a camera lucida to produce in very short time extremely accurate sketches of landscapes and scenes that faithfully convey the Greek landscape. Schliemann, an amateur archaeologist was at first skeptical about the identification of Hissarlik with Troy but was persuaded by Calvert In 1870, Schliemann began digging at Hissarlik, and by 1873 had discovered nine buried cities. Provenance: contemporary inscription on front flyleaf verso of a later Lord Byron footnote from his 1809 poem "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers". ABBEY TRAVEL. 399; ATABEY. 483; BLACKMER. 660. LASCARDES., The Search for Troy 81. Some offsetting of plates to text. Text and plates clean and bright.