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ROBERT H COLEBROOK, Twelve Views of Places in the Kingdom of Mysore: The Country of Tippoo Sultan from drawings taken on the spot, To which are annexed, Concise Descriptions of the Places drawn, with a brief detail of part of the Operations of the Army during the late War, and a few other particulars, London: Edward Orme, 1805

Title, dedication and 6 sheets of letterpress text, 12 original hand-coloured aquatint plates, with colour-washed borders by John William Edy, after Colebrook.
Leather bound with gilt text on the front board and at the spine
49 x 65.5 x 1.5 cm

A military surveyor and draughtsman, Robert H Colebrooke was born to a British ambassador at Chilham Castle in Kent. Colebrooke served as a surveyor in the Bengal Infantry from 1778 until his death in Bhagalpur in 1808. He learned surveying techniques while accompanying Thomas Dean Pearse, a British Army officer in the Bengal Army's artillery, on his tour along the east coast from Madras (now Chennai) to Hooghly. Colebrooke was involved in measuring and surveying various parts of the subcontinent, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between 1789-1790. A year later, while surveying the routes taken by the army of Lord Cornwallis, Colebrooke made drawings of Seringapatam (now Srirangapatna), Bangalore and the local countryside of Mysore. These were originally published in the Calcutta Gazette in 1792. Two years later, Colebrooke's drawings were engraved by John William Edy, a Danish artist working in London, and published in the form of aquatints as Twelve Views of Places in the Kingdom of Mysore: The Country of Tippoo Sultan. This set of views - which show historically significant locations associated with Hyder Ali (including his mausoleum) and Tipu Sultan -became very popular and were republished several times, including the present lot edition.

LIST OF PLATES

1. East View of Bangolore
2. The Lake of Mooty Tallaow near Seringapatam
3. Prospect of the Country near Mooty Tallaow
4. Pagodas of Maugry, with a distant View of Sewan-droog
5. North-West View of Nandy-droog
6. North View of Sewandroog shewing the Attack in Dec, 1791.
7. South View of Sewandroog
8. South-West View of Ootra-Durgum
9. West View of Ramgherry
10. The Mausoleum of Hyder Aly Khan at Laulbaug
11. East View of Seringapatam
12. North-West View of Seringapatam

Reference: Abbey 'Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770-1860', 426