Fine early views of Mysore. Colebrook (1762-1808), served as a surveyor with the Bengal Infantry from 1778 until his death. While surveying the routes taken during the marches of the army under Lord Cornwallis in 1791 and 1792, he made drawings of Seringapatam, Bangalore, and the local countryside including the hill forts of Mysore.

The original publication of the views was announced in 1792 in the Calcutta Gazette. They were published in London in 1794, having been engraved in aquatint by John William Edy, a Dane working in London, under the superintendence of Paul Sandby. Beside views of Seringapatam and Bangalore, the set is notable for the plate of the mausoleum of Haidar Ali (who died in 1782).

This set of views, amongst the earliest to show places directly associated with Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan, became very popular and were republished several times.



Second edition. Landscape folio (62 x 45.8 mm). 12 hand-coloured aquatint plates by John William Edy after R.H. Colebrook, with watermarks dating 1801 and 1804, descriptive letterpress interleaved with the plates; some neat repairs to margins of plates, with occasional staining or foxing to margins. Bound in later half-black calf over marbled boards, spine with decorative gilt bands, red morocco label with gilt title.