HAMILTON, SIR WILLIAM. Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases Mostly of Pure Greek Workmanship Discovered in Sepulchres in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies but Chiefly in the Neighbourhood of Naples During the Course of the Years MDCCLXXXIX and MDCCLXXXX... Naples: Mr. Wm. Tischbein, 1791 and 1795. 2 volumes, first edition. Modern cloth over spine and corners, marbled paper boards, spine label. 18 3/4 x 15 inches (47.5 x 37.5 cm); Vol. I: 159, [3] pp., Vol. II: 104 pp., two engraved title pages in English and then French in each volume, text in English and French on facing pages, volume I with 62 leaves of engraved plates, and volume II with 62 leaves of engraved plates. Some toning to plates and text leaves, occasional pale spotting, Volume I with some dampstaining to the first three leaves, the plates in volume 2 are numbered by an early hand in ink, altogether a rather nice example.

The first two volumes of Sir William Hamilton's catalogue describing and illustrating his second vase collection, which he amassed after selling his first collection to the British Museum in 1772. Unfortunately, a third of the vases were lost in a shipwreck off the coast of Sicily. The plates are line engravings, unlike those in his previous catalogue, so as to be more affordable, as well as more useful to artists and manufacturers as a pattern book. Blackmer 778; Brunet V, 866; RIBA 3319.