"The Grand Topography of Swedish Romanticism” (1816-67), provenance: Säfstaholm (6 vol.)

Ulric Thersner (and others):

Fordna och närvarande Sverige. - La Suède ancienne et moderne. Stockholm 1816-67. With 366 plates. Bound in six volumes, oblong folio, height up to 37,5 cms, width up to 53 cms.

Engraved main title + printed main title + 6 engraved section titles (all issued) + dedication to King Karl XIV Johan, foreword and a list of subscribers + 366 engraved or lithographed plates (lacking only the plate Ransäter in the Värmland section) + accompanying text leaves in Swedish (in the earlier parts also in French).

Plates: Skåne (Title + 60), Östergötland (Title + 36), Uppland (Title + 40), Södermanland (Title + 61), Nerike (Title + 41), Västergötland & Bohuslän (Title + 40), Småland, Öland & Blekinge (41), Västmanland (16), Dalarna (16), Värmland (15 of 16).

Six volumes, contemporary half red calf, spines richly gilt. Worn, one joint cracked at foot. Bindings not quite uniform, featuring wide borders in gilt on five volumes, and a border in blind on one.

Provenance: Gilt monogram ”GTB” for Gustaf Trolle-Bonde on all spines, bookplate of ”Säfstaholms bibliothek” in five volumes.

Twelve plates and some text leaves in the beginning of the Skåne section neatly remargined, some occasional staining mainly confined to margins but in a few cases affecting image, and slightly disfiguring about five plates in the Södermansland section. Five plates in the Östergötland section with faint marginal dampstain, a few plates and text leaves with reinforcements on versos (including ”Säfstaholm”) and short marginal tears, two plates with tears along edge of printing plate. Five sections with a printed front section wrapper preserved (Västmanland, Dalarna, Värmland, Småland, Blekinge).

Sten G. Lindberg, Swedish Books, 57. This great topographical work was planned with the monumental ”Suecia antiqua et hodierna” (c. 1700) in mind, but focusing on landscape and romantic views, pushing the manors and castles into the background and omitting city views altogether.

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