Devon and Cornwall Illustrated

A nice regional example of some of the superb books digitised by Google: Devonshire & Cornwall Illustrated (from original drawings by T. Allom, W.H. Bartlett, &c., with historical and topographical descriptions by J. Britton & E.W. Brayley, Illustrated by Thomas Allom, Fisher, Fisher & Jackson, 1832). See title page.


Dawlish


Brixham
Apart from the general historical, topographical and aesthetic interest, the book has considerable technological and bibliographic importance as one of the early applications of prints from steel-plate engraving. Copper plates wore out rapidly, giving print runs in the hundreds, but steel plates ran to thousands of prints, enabling the production of popular and inexpensive editions of topgraphical books such as Devon and Cornwall Illustrated.


Torquay
Chapter 5 of this study by James M'Kenzie-Hall - Illustrated Picture Books: the production of 19th century topographical books with steel engravings with particular reference to the London firms of Fisher, Son 7 Co and George Virtue - focuses on the work of Allom and Bartlett.


Exmouth
- RG