This two-volume set includes 118 (of 120) superb engravings after J. M. W. Turner. An English painter, Turner is known for his Romantic landscape painting. Turner is credited as an artistic genius who elevated landscape painting with his ability to "paint light," which make his works particularly suitable for engraving. Each steel-engraved plate is accompanied by a page of descriptive text featuring historical and critical remarks, written by William Cosmo Monkhouse, a British poet and critic. The plates include a portrait of Turner, views of Venice, ships at sea, mythological figures, and castles in England. The plates of The Death of Nelson and The Battle of Trafalgar are missing. Published by D. Appleton and Company in New York. Large folio. Hardbound in quarter leather spine and tips over black cloth boards with raised bands and gilt titling on spine.

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Condition: B+

The plates are mostly in very good condition with light scattered foxing and damp stains in far blank margins. The text pages are lightly toned with occasional offsetting and foxing, and there is a large damp stain on the title page in the first volume. The frontispiece in volume one is heavily foxed. The bindings are sound, the covers are worn, and the spines have large cracks and chips.