Very Rare 1st India History Kashmir Color Art Prints Native Culture Antique Book

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Very Rare 1st India History Kashmir Color Art Prints Native Culture Antique Book:
$1400.00

This is a very rare, interesting, and valuable antique collectible book, profusely illustrated, on Indian travel, history, and art entitled \"Kashmir: The Land of Streams and Solitudes,\" by P. Pirie, originally \"with 25 plates in Colour and Upwards of 100 black and white Illustrations by H.R. Pirie,\" colour blocks and painting by the highly acclaimed Carl Hentschel, publshed by John Lane The Bodley Head, with a green cloth hard cover embellished with decorative gold gilt labeling and design, gold edged page tops, red and black ink on the title page, and a total of 269 pages. Reprints of this book from the 1920s have sold for $300-$500. Although few original copies exist, some in similar condition have sold in the past for $1500 to $2500, and similar individual art reproductions by Hentschel have sold for hundreds of dollars each, as well. Topics in the book include The Fort at Astor, Kamri Pass, The Maharaja\'s Temple on the Jhelum, the Gate of Chingiz Serai, Aliabad Serai, The Boat People, Gujar Women in the Pir Panjal Forests, an Outpost of Civilization, the River Road, Chamba, Moghuls, tribes, House of a Wazir, Dal Lake, Shepherdesses, The Ferry, Poonch, The Happy Valley, Srinagar, The Shikari, Islamabad, the Apple-Tree Canal, Camel Transport, Nanga Parbat, the Imperial Service Corps, Civilization on the Tonga Road, the Third Zone, Rajaori, travelers, Old Lalla, and more!In an article by The Saturday Review it stated that \"The author and illustrator / artist had special permits from the government of India thus being enabled to cover ground often forofferden to the ordinary traveler.\" According to The International Studio, Vol. 30, pg 338 (1909), the book is \"...illustrated with numerous colour and black and white reproductions of sketches made on the spot.\"Innovator Carl Hentschel (1868-1930), who pioneered the three-color half-tone process, produced the gorgeous and meticulous colour blocks and printing found throughout this book. According to The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality, Vol. 53 (on the progress of pictorial illustration), Carl Hentschel, Ltd, a London firm which also acquired Meisenbach, by British and even American Admission, leads the whole world\'s craft of photo-engraving.\" The rigidly-guarded color engraving secret methods and processes, unique among trichromatic processes, devised by Carl Hentschel \"have been one of the powers which entirely revolutionized illustrated journalism and the popular press in the nineteenth century.\" \"The Twentieth Century opens with a new achievement - the reproduction of colour by photography by the aid of the Hentschel colourtype process.\" His art reproductions have been highly praised even by the staunchest critics, including for such works as \"Homes of Tennyson,\" \"Happy England,\" a colourtype volume for the Royal Society of Watercolour Painters given as a coronation present to the king, and according to Photomechanics of Printed Illustration \"an important book illustrated by colourtype is on the Sevres Porcelain of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle published at the command of H.M. the King...\" \"containing 56 large plates\" by Hentschel \"and the book is undoubtedly, in some respects, the greatest achievement in color reproduction up to the present,\" among numerous other publications. Hentschel\'s art reproductions also won multiple awards including the Grand Prix at the International Exhibition in Grand Palais, Paris, the Brussels International Exhibit, and others.In terms of condition, this extremely scarce historical volume has its text pages mostly clean, bright, unmarked, bound, with only a few closed tears noted (mostly repaired neatly, including one full-page tear), a possible few edge chips with some typical minor age toning or smudging from handling. Most of the black & white, as well as color plates / prints / engravings, have survived in good condition, with the primary damage to the book being a result of deterioration and collapse of fragile mounting sheets (made of material similar to black construction paper) & the thin label sheets preceding each color plate - they crumbled from age and either fell out or are extremely torn and damaged to which left the beautiful collectible color plates of paintings loose but intact, most with little or no damage, inserted where they belong throughout the book & may be repairable. There is also a mild old book/ musty smell.The outside cover is solid with surface and edge wear, as well as some tearing/fraying at the spine, as shown, but overall a wonderful, fascinating, antique book with fabulous sketches of the landscape and unusual cultural encounters, as well as rare artwork still in nice condition for the age and rarity being 108 years old.