Description

Vol. I: lithographed title page, xx, 440 pp. Illustrated with 17 lithographs, of which 7 tinted and some of the others with limited hand colouring.

Vol. II: lithographed title page, viii, 513 pp. Illustrated with 15 lithographs, of which 7 tinted and some of the others with limited hand colouring. This volume also contains a folding table.

Vol. III: Index sheet, 5 linen backed maps, entitled:

         1) Map of Abyssinia.

         2) Line of March of the Force.

         3) Senafe and its Neighbourhood.

         4) Magdala and surrounding Country.

         5) Plan showing the disposition of the British troops in Abyssinia on the 13th April, 1868.

Bibliographie: Gay 2641, Hess & Coger 714, Fumagalli 1695, Lockot 5957.

Provenance: exemplaire ayant appartenu à John Helias McEwen, Esq. of Marchmont.

Sir John Helias Finnie McEwen (1893 – 1962). Politician, land-owner and minor poet. The son of advocate Robert Finnie McEwen of Bardrochat (1861 – 1921) who also owned Marchmont House in the Scottish Borders, McEwen was brought up the country gentleman, educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. Following service in the First World War, during which he was taken prisoner, and time in the Diplomatic Service (1921-5), he was elected the Conservative Member of Parliament for Berwick and Haddington (1931-45) and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Under-Secretary of State for India (1933-36) and briefly as Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (1939-40). He was a Member of the Royal Company of Archers, was created a baronet in 1953 and awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Glasgow. McEwen also served as a Trustee of the National Galleries of Scotland from 1952.

Le bibliophile Humphrey Winterton avait l’exemplaire de Hozier pour lequel il attachait une attention toute particulière (cf. introduction au catalogue Maggs Ltd).

Biblethiophile, 13.10.2018