The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated, embracing pictoral drawings of all the principal conflicts, by Carl Nebel, author of “A picturesque and archaeological voyage in Mexico,” with a descripion of each battle, by Geo. Wilkins Kendall, author of “The Texan Santa Fé Expedition,” etc., etc.
New York: Appleton & Company, 1851. First edition.
Large Folio (23 ¼” x 17 ¼”, 590mm x 440mm): π2 1–132 [$1 signed]. 28 leaves, pp. i–iii iv 1 2–52. With a lithographed map and 12 hand-colored lithographed plates heightened in gum arabic.
Rebacked in red straight grain morocco (an old rebacking) over red pebbled buckram. Title gilt to a black leather lettering piece on the front board.
Wear to the extremities and loss to the backstrip and fore-corners. Cracked at the joints but binding is still sturdy. Foxed throughout.
George Wilkins Kendall (1809–1867) and Carl Nebel (1805–1855) had each become distinguished for their publications, Kendall for his sensational account of capture and imprisonment in Mexico 1841–1842, Nebel for his picturesque Voyage pittoresque et archéologique dans la partie la plus intéressante du Méxique, with an introduction by no less than Alexander von Humboldt. The Mexican-American War of 1846–1848, which ended with the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the cession of some 55% of Mexico’s territory to the United States (including modern California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona), provided an opportunity for the two specialists to collaborate.
The war between the United States and Mexico illustrated has been called “the climax of the confluence of journalism and lithography” (Martha Sandweiss, Rick Stewart and Ben W. Huseman. Eyewitness to War. Fort Worth, TX and Washington, D.C.: Amon Carter Museum and Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989; pp. 36-37), and it might be said that no publication did more to bring current events vividly to the eye of the public. Punishingly expensive ($34–40 depending on the binding), the work was carried out by Plon frères et Compagnie in Paris, where Kendall was reporting from 1848 while Nebel was still in Mexico drawing the views. The example cited by Sabin also bears the New York imprint despite Parisian production, but another copy handled by Arader lists both New York and Philadelphia on the title-page. Howes additionally notes that the text was printed in New Orleans. There is seemingly no hierarchy among the first edition issues with varying imprints.
The introduction underscores the journalistic aims of the work, including representing the fighting men in their “ordinary fatigue caps and dresses” rather than the showier but inaccurate full dress uniforms. Kendall has been dubbed the first modern war-correspondent, and his descriptions of the battles are distinct from the sensationalist and jingoistic accounts usually to be found in the press. Still, the publication is clear in its triumphalism; the famous depiction of Winfield Scott’s entrance into Mexico City, the flag of the United States flying, is the totem of Manifest Destiny.
Bennett, American 19th Century Colour Plate Books, p. 65; Howes K 76; Sabin 37362; Sandweiss-Stewart-Huseman op. cit., pp. 36-37.
Cataloged by G.R. Murdock
Item #GRM0109
Price: $14,500