Nineveh and Its Palaces; The Discoveries of Botta and Layard, Applied to the Elucidation of Holy Writ
London: Office of the Illustrated London Library, 1852. Ad. Lalauze. First Edition. 8vo; 8 1/4 x 5 3/8 inches (210 x 137 mm); xxii, 402 pp. 236 illustrations, including maps and schematic drawings. Full maroon morocco binding with gilt decorative frame on boards, raised bands, gilt title and decorations in compartments, edges gilt, a.e.g., marbled endpapers. Binding rubbed at corners and ends of spine, front joint is tired and cover partially detached (3 inches), back hinge split, but overall the binding is solid and the pages are evenly toned and supple, with typical offset from plates.
Joseph Bonomi the Younger (1796 – 1878) was an English sculptor, artist, Egyptologist and museum curator. He was born into a family of architects and studied sculpture under Charles Bell at the Royal Academy Schools before traveling to Rome. From there he embarked on several expeditions to Egypt where he was hired as an artist by teams of Egyptologists, to create drawings, casts of reliefs at Abu Simbel, Philae and Thebes, and later went to Syria and Palestine. On his return to London Bonomi's work focused upon his knowledge of Egypt and the Middle East and included cataloguing and illustrating many Egyptian collections, and he helped to arrange the Egyptian exhibits in the British Museum in London.
In 1852 he published this volume dedicated to capital of the Assyrian Empire and to its biblical importance. He also published works on Egypt, Nubia, and Ethiopia, all illustrated with his own drawings. From 1861 Bonomi was Curator of the Sir John Soane's Museum in central London, a post he retained until his death. He also invented a machine for measuring the proportions of the human body, and wrote a treatise, The Proportion of the Human Figure published in 1856.
Condition: Very Good.
Item number: 1445
Price: $300.00
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