Ross Expedition—Cape Town | Four Views Drawn from nature by T.W. Bowler, with Ansicht von der Kapstadt, presented to W.J. Hooker

By Descent: the Property of the Hooker Family

Ross Expedition—Cape Town

Lithographs, comprising:

i. Thomas William Bowler. Four Views of Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. Drawn from nature by T.W. Bowler. Cape Town: published by J.H. Collard, [1844]. Folio (545 x 375mm.), 4 tinted lithographs by A. Picken of Day & Haghe after Bowler, all marked proof, loose, final lithograph tipped onto thick paper, remains of upper printed wrapper with presentation inscription on lower margin, [Bobins 80; not in Abbey], somewhat spotted and damp-stained (mostly outside printed areas)

PRESENTED TO WILLIAM JACKSON HOOKER BY CARL FERDINAND HEINRICH VON LUDWIG (1784-1847), FOUNDER OF CAPE TOWN'S FIRST BOTANIC GARDEN: "for W Hooker as a Remembrance to your dear Son from Baron C. von Ludwig". En route to the Antarctic as part of the Ross Expedition, Joseph Dalton Hooker stopped off in Cape Town where he "met congenial residents like Baron Ludwig who promised to exchange plants with Kew Gardens" (Desmond). It is this meeting to which von Ludwig presumably refers in his inscription. These lithographs comprise a rare group of views of Cape Town, not described in Abbey (though Bowler is deemed "one of the most important of South African artists").

ii. Sir John Herschel. Ansicht von der Capstadt [A view of Cape Town from Ludwig's garden]. [G. Kuestner, 1835]. 274 x 354mm. lithograph by C. Obach after J. Herschel, lithographed description and dedication beneath in German, mounted on card, spotted

The latter is a rare lithograph after a sketch by Sir John Herschel. The German text reads: "View of Cape Town and surroundings as seen from the Ludwigsburg Botanical Garden under construction [in Kloof Street between Table Mountain and Lion's Head]; a sketch by Sir John Herschel dedicated by him as a token of friendship and respect to the owner of the garden, Dr C.F.H. von Ludwig". 

LITERATURE:

Ray Desmond, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker: Traveller and Plant collects or, p. 84. For an illustration of the lithograph after Herschel's sketch (without the text), see Brian Warner, Cape Landscapes: Sir John Herschel's sketches 1834-1848 (Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press, 2006, p. 28).