Caddy, Lieutenant John Herbert | Among the most desirable 19th century views of West Indian landscape

Caddy, Lieutenant John Herbert

[Scenery of the Windward and Leeward Islands]. London: Ackermann & Co., 1837.

Oblong folio (406 x 559 mm). 12 hand-colored aquatints (each approximately 324 x 394 mm) after Caddy, engraved by Fielding, Harris, Hunt and Westall, each tipped onto a sheet of blue paper, complete without text, as issued. Album bound to style in half period dark blue morocco and buff paper colored boards. Housed in a full dark blue morocco box. The views include:

1) Brimstone Hill | St. Kitts (engraved by J. Harris)

2) Fort Charlotte, St. Vincent's | from Kingston (engraved by N. Fielding

3) The Old Crater of the Soufriere | St. Vincent (engraved by W. Westall)

4) The Pitons or Sugar-loaves | St. Lucia (engraved by C. Hunt)

5) Sandy Point, St. Kitts (engraved by C. Hunt)

6) Pigeon Island, & Village of Gros Islet | St. Lucia (engraved by J. Harris)

7) The Town of Castries | St. Lucia (engraved by N. Fielding)

8) Kingstown | St. Vincent's | from Cane-Garden Point (engraved by J. Harris)

9) View from Morne Fortune | St. Lucia ... (engraved by J. Harris)

10) Roseau, Dominica (engraved by J. Harris)

11) The Rabacca or Dry River | Soufriere Mountain in the distance | St. Vincent (engraved by W. Westall)

12) Basaltic Rocks | in Washilabou or Cumberland Valley, St. Vincent (engraved by W. Westall)

Very rare complete set. Among the most desirable 19th century color aquatint views of West Indian landscape.

"Like George Heriot, James Pattison Cockburn, Philip John Bainbrigge, and other English military artists who painted Canadian scenes, [John] Caddy was trained at Woolwich in topographical sketching and painting. Much of his free time was spent at the home of a family friend, Colonel Richard Hamilton, at Woolwich Common. … In 1828 he married Colonel Hamilton's daughter Georgiana, shortly before he left for duty in Tobago. He returned to England in 1831, but after two years left his family for his second West Indian posting, at St Lucia. In May 1834 he was transferred to St Vincent where he was joined later by his wife and family. Diary fragments describe the social rounds, the hunting, and the sketching which were possible with light military duties. Before he left for St Vincent Caddy had prepared for publication a series of four folios of scenes, largely of the West Indies. The pictures of the first folio were engraved in London and were published in 1837 by Ackermann; the other three folios never appeared" (Dictionary of Canadian Biography).

This suite of plates was issued without text or title (the title above as supplied by Abbey from the lettering on the cover of the binding on his set). The work was published, as a contemporary advertisement reveals, as a suite of "highly coloured views" for £3.10. The present set with all prints containing the original 1837 issue imprint and with 1836-1837 watermarks is very rare.

REFERENCES:

Abbey,Travel 692; Sabin 9824; The Exotic and the Beautiful I:04