The present work consists of sepia-printed lithographs, realized by the lithographer Charles Joseph Hullmandel (1789–1850) after Burgess's drawings. It is a set of pastoral landscapes, each featuring different species of large trees. Rural folk going about their routines provide a sense of scale. Burgess and Hullmandel were among the earliest practitioners of lithography in England, which in this series replicates the tonal variations of a sepia ink wash drawing very effectively. Burgess's attention to the qualities of light exhibited in these prints links him to his contemporaries John Constable and J.M.W. Turner.

Henry William Burgess (c.1792–1839) was an English artist known particularly for his drawings of trees and landscapes. His medium was graphite and watercolour. He was part of the a well-known dynasty of painters who flourished in the 18th and 19th centuries. His father was the portrait-painter William Burgess (1749–1812), and his grandfather was Thomas Burgess (fl. 1766–1786). Based in Chelsea like the rest of his family, between 1809 and 1839 Burgess exhibited many works at the Royal Academy, the Suffolk Street Gallery, and the New Water-Colour Society in London. He became landscape painter to William IV of England in 1826. At least one of his drawings is still in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, a distant view, with deer and horse and cart. He was also drawing master at Charterhouse School.

First edition; folio (56 x 42 cm), lithographed portrait frontispiece on india paper mounted, 2 lithographed titles incorporating dedications, 2 letterpress dedication leaves, list of subscribers, 54 lithographed plates, on india paper mounted, contemporary tan half morocco gilt over cloth boards, gilt lettered to upper cover, rather worn, scattered light foxing to preliminaries and plate margins.