[Maritime history] Comte, Pieter le II. Afbeeldingen van schepen en vaartuigen, in verschillende bewegingen

Amst., by J.J. Nesser Jr. for F. Kaal, 1831, (8),60,(3) p., w. 50 finely handcol. lithogr. plates, orig. printed boards, later rebacked w. hleather, obl. folio. More or less foxed (especially) the text, title and htitle w. folds. Covers browned and worn along extremities. Minor other imperfections. A good, exceptionally finely coloured copy, from the library of Johannes Enschedé Jr. (1785-1866), w. his owner's entry in pen on first free endpaper. This magnificent library of the well-known family of printers, started and expanded by Izaak and Johannes Sr., was sold at auction by Frederik Muller and Martiunus Nijhoff on 9 December 1867; the present work unfortunately not listed in the available online catalogue. Warranted in pen by Le Comte below the introduction and all prints w. his blindst. "PLC RMWO", standing for Pieter le Comte, Ridder Militaire Willems Orde.

Cat. NHSM, p. 756; De Groot & Vorstman, Zeilschepen, 219-227. First and only edition of a fine and technically accurate series of lithographic prints showing a wide variety of ships and boats, mostly Dutch but also incl. some foreign examples and an early image of a steamboat. Pieter le Comte (1802-1849) was a naval officer as well as a painter, draftsman and lithograph artist, and he understood the technical details of ships and rigging - as evidenced by this work.