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Thomas and William Daniell, Oriental Scenery, London: William Daniell and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown for Thomas and William Daniell, 1812-1816

6 parts in 3 volumes, general title in volume 1, 6 aquatint vignette titles to each part, 144 black and white aquatint plates on thick paper and 8 engraved plans; modern brown half Morocco with matching brown cloth boards, new endpapers, spine lettered in gilt with 5 raised bands
39.2 x 28 x 4.5 cm (each)

First Quarto Edition of the Daniells' Most Celebrated Work.

"The Daniells left England in 1785, when William was only about sixteen, and they were back in England in September 1794. From an early-stage Thomas seems to have set out to emulate and surpass Hodges (Select Views in India) in popularizing his views through the comparatively new medium of aquatint. The uncle and nephew were determined not only to do better than Hodges but to expose the weaknesses of the pioneer's work by choosing the same views as Hodges had done, drawing them more accurately, and aquatinting them more skillfully." (Abbey, Scenery II, p. 377)

"(Thomas) Daniell, assisted by his nephew (William), produced his best-known work Oriental Scenery (issued in six series) of Indian views making a total of 144 hand-coloured aquatint views of India. These represent Mughal and Dravidian monuments, cityscapes and sublime views of mountains and waterfalls and formed the most extensive work of its kind, finding subscribers throughout Britain as well as in Calcutta and Madras." (ODNB)

On their return to London in 1794 the Daniells spent the next 15 years working on the aquatints of Oriental Scenery (1795-1808), which is widely regarded as one of the quintessential artistic depictions of the subcontinent in the 18th century. Oriental Scenery, was, in fact, a project involving six series of aquatints (of 24 prints each).

This work contains plates carefully reduced and copied from the large folio edition, published between 1795 and 1808, under the Daniells' direction.

Reference: J R Abbey, Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770-1860, p. 432

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