An Historical and Descriptive Account of Antigua,

The most beautiful book on antigua. Very rare. Only two complete copies of this work are recorded as appearing at auction in the past 100 years. The most beautiful book on Antigua, published in a very small edition.

Johnson began with the grand design of publishing a large series of Views in the West Indies, with each part containing images and descriptions of a number of islands. According to an 'Advertisement' slip issued with the third part of West Indies this plan was abandoned after only three parts because of the objections that were made 'to the form in which [the West Indian] Views [were]... published'. Evidently, purchasers wanted to be able to buy views of individual islands. The 'Advertisement' continues: 'to enable purchasers to select scenes in one particular island, each number will in future contain views in one island only.' The present work, which includes amended versions of six of the views which had previously appeared in the Views in the West Indies and one additional view not published before, appears to have been the only offshoot of the earlier work to reach fruition. Difficulty in finding subscribers seems to have forced Johnson to abandon the idea of a series of works on individual islands: 'When the first specimen of the Work was prepared for inspection, it was intended by the Author, that the Work itself should appear at a much earlier period... That intention, however, was accompanied by an expectation that a sufficient number of Subscribers would have been obtained... In this [the author]... has been much disappointed' ('Advertisement' leaf). In fact so few people had come forward, Johnson goes on to write that he is not sure if it is even worth printing the list of subscribers.

The aquatints are notable for their superb colouring and the depiction of Antiguans going about their everyday work. Three of the plates have 'proof' in the bottom corner. This copy has a full-page map instead of the folding map in other copies that have sold and it does not state it is by J. & H. Neele but rather Smith Elder & Co. with the date of 1829.

The plates are titled: 1. Saint John's Antigua. From Otto's; 2. Saint John's Harbour, Antigua. From Southward and Eastward; 3. View Near St. John's Antigua. From Gambles; 4. View of Saint John's Harbour, Antigua. From Friar's Hill; 5. View in the Parish of Saint Christopher; 6. View in Old North Sound, Antigua; 7. English Harbour, Antigua. From Great George Fort, Monks Hill.

First edition; landscape folio (44 x 57 cm); 3 full-page hand-coloured maps on 2 sheets, 7 fine hand-coloured aquatint plates after Johnson, watermarks 1822, 1825, 1828, 1829, and 1830, with errata slip and half-title, lithograph headpiece to dedication, plates clean and bright; contemporary half straight-grained morocco, paper-covered boards with gilt morocco title label to upper board, gilt flat spine, boards a little scuffed, preserved in a modern morocco backed cloth case, otherwise a fine copy; [17]ff.

Bobins 14; not in Abbey or Tooley but cf. Abbey (Travel), 678; Tooley 285.