[Scottish antiquarianism] Bannatyne Club A Series of Etchings chiefly of Views in Scotland. By John

[Scottish antiquarianism] Bannatyne Club A Series of Etchings chiefly of Views in Scotland. By John Clerk of Eldin, Esq. With Additional Etchings and Facsimiles from his Drawings. Edinburgh: for the Bannatyne Club, 1855. Large folio (50.5 x 31cm), original maroon quarter roan, printed paper label to front board, lithographic portrait frontispiece on india paper, mounted, additional mezzotint portrait, 55 etched or tinted lithographic plates (numbered 1-55 but many containing multiple separately printed images), one additional plate, spine rubbed, covers slightly sunned, tips bumped, spotting to endpapers, occasional light spotting elsewhere [David Laing, The Bannatyne Club. Lists of Members and the Rules, with a Catalogue of the Books printed for the Bannatyne Club since its Institution in 1823, 1867, p. 85]Note: Note: Second edition, enlarged, number 98 in the Bannatyne Club series; it was first published in 1825 with 28 plates only. John Clerk of Eldin (1728-1812), 'a true child of the Enlightenment' (ODNB) is best remembered today for his Essay on Naval Tactics (1790). 'Clerk was an exceptional amateur artist. His wealthy background afforded him the luxury of entertaining numerous careers, including medicine and business, and he also showed a considerable interest in geology. In the 1740s he began sketching alongside his brother-in-law, Robert Adam, and the artist Paul Sandby. Clerk travelled extensively throughout Scotland, recording a wide range of landscapes and ancient buildings. His sketches of Edinburgh and the surrounding areas are highly personal representations of his native countryside' (National Galleries of Scotland, online). The Bannatyne Club was an antiquarian printing society founded in Edinburgh in 1823 by Sir Walter Scott on the model of London's Roxburghe Club.Provenance: 1) Robert Graham (1785-1859), of Redgorton and Balgowan, advocate; 2) Thence by descent; 3) Lyon & Turnbull, 1st February 2005, lot 211.