Adam's Works on Paper ONILNE Auction Ending August 10th 2020

111 Works on Paper 297 RUSSELL, SIR WILLIAM HOWARD. The Atlantic Telegraph Illustrated with twenty-five coloured lithographs by T. Picken from drawings by Robert Dudley. Small folio. London, [1866]. v, 117, 25 (plates), 4 (advertisements) pp. Green cloth, upper cover blocked in gold and blind, designed by Robert Dudley, with chromolitho- graphed cut-out onlays at centre showing core of cable. Decorated to a naval design with the flags of United Kingdom, United States, At- lantic Ocean and Britannia in medallion shape, rope interlacing, Royal Arms above the American Eagle in centre; repeated in blind on lower cover. Spine richly gilt. All edges gilt. Fine. In 1854, Cyrus West Field conceived the idea of the telegraph cable and secured a charter to lay a well-insulated line across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. Obtaining the aid of British and American naval ships, he made four unsuccessful attempts, beginning in 1857. In July 1858, four British and American vessels - the Agamemnon, the Valorous, the Niagara, and the Gorgon - met in mid-ocean for the fifth attempt. On July 29, the Niagara and the Gorgon, with their load of cable, de- parted for Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, while the Agamemnon and the Valorous embarked for Valentia, Ireland. By August 5, the cable had been successfully laid, stretching nearly 2,000 miles across the Atlan- tic at a depth often of more than two miles. On August 16, President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria exchanged formal introductory and complimentary messages. Unfortunately, the cable proved weak and the current insufficient and by the beginning of September had ceased functioning. Sir William Howard Russell CVO (1820-1907) was born in Tallaght, County Dublin. He was a reporter with The Times, and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents, after he spent 22 months covering the Crimean War including the Charge of the Light Brigade. Russell was described by one of the soldiers on the frontlines thus: “a vulgar low Irishman, [who] sings a good song, drinks anyone’s brandy and water and smokes as many cigars as a Jolly Good Fellow. He is just the sort of chap to get information, par- ticularly out of youngsters”. His dispatches were hugely significant; for the first time the public could read about the reality of warfare. Shocked and outraged, the public’s backlash from his reports led the Government to re-evaluate the treatment of troops and led to Florence Nightingale’s involvement in revolutionising battlefield treatment. In July 1865 he sailed on the Great Eastern to document the laying of the Atlantic Cable and wrote this work about the voyage. In this volume he discusses submarine telegraphy in general as well as the trans-Atlantic telegraph he wit- nessed being laid. The magnificent lithographs are of outstanding quality and include the five scarce South Kerry Views: Valentia in 1858; The Bay-Valentia; Foilhummerum Bay-Valentia from Cromwell Fort; The Cliffs Foilhum- merum- landing of the Shore end of Cable, July 22; General view of Port Magee from the heights below Cora Beg. The Caroline laying the Shore end of the cable July 22. He published diaries of his time in India, the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, where he describes the warm welcome giv- en him by English-speaking Prussian generals such as Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal. He was awarded the title of Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by King Edward VII, who reportedly told Russell “Don’t kneel Billy, just stoop” during the ceremony. € 600 - 800