This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 9/26/2025
First edition of ''Lucas' Progressive Drawing Book, in Three Parts...Consisting Chiefly of Original Views of American Scenery, and Embracing the Latest and Best Improvements in the Mode of Instruction''. Baltimore: Fielding Lucas Jr., 1827. An extraordinarily rare publication by cartographer and publisher Fielding Lucas, who wanted to give the United States her own drawing book, distinct from those popularized in England. This stunning book is the result, with Lucas including unique American views such as the Susquehannah, Mississippi and Hudson Rivers, ships upon the Atlantic, Warrior Mountain, and other landscapes. It's the earliest and most important American drawing book, reigning supreme until ''The American Drawing Book'' was published by John Gadsby Chapman 20 years later.
Book has all 38 plates, with 36 original and two reproduction plates, numbers 7 and 15. Includes 9 original color plates by John H.B. Latrobe, hand-colored in aquatint by John Hill. Bound in publisher's original marble boards with paper label, and half morocco sympathetically rebacked. Measures 14.75'' x 10.25''. A few missing tissue guards and one monotone plate partially colored in red by an amateur hand. Overall in very good plus condition, displaying beautifully. Only one other 1827 copy of ''Lucas' Progressive Drawing Book'' has sold at auction in the last 50 years, with a sale price of $88,200.