Six Views of Gibraltar and its Neighbourhood, drawn from Nature in 1824 by Ph. Benucci, and executed on Stone by the Same, at Munich in 1825

Filippo Benucci was a celebrated landscape painter and well known as an engraver working from Florence. He was one of the first lithographers of Maltese scenes. In 1824 Benucci produced a set of six engravings executed in stone depicting "Six views of Gibraltar and its Environs". They were published in Munich in the form of a booklet by an unknown publisher and printed by Dreseley in Munich the following year.

According to Abbey, this is one of only five books on Gibraltar listed - and the earliest.

Large oblong quarto (258 x 392 mm), lithographed pictorial title page ('South View of the Rock of Gibraltar') and 6 full-page captioned lithographic plates (all printed rectos only, and all printed on a light brown monochrome background)

Three plates have 'drawn from Nature by Ph. Benucci' in the bottom right-hand corner of the image; the other three have 'F.' instead of 'Ph.' (and the last plate has the additional words 'near the Hospital. Gibraltar 1823').

Mirabile dictu, Abbey's description is at fault: he clearly collated a defective copy. He calls for, and describes, the pictorial title and five plates, numbering them 1-6. Our copy has these same six plate leaves, plus an additional plate (surely the correct Plate 1) after the title leaf, 'View of the Rock of Gibraltar taken from the new road between St Roque and los Barrios'.

References:

Abbey Travel 123