PICTORIAL ALBUM OF CAPE TOWN

From Original Drawings by T.W. Bowler 

With Historical and Descriptive Sketches by W.R. Thomson 

First edition: 44 pages of letterpress, fine large folding double tinted lithograph of 'View of Cape Town from Table Bay' as frontispiece, 11 double tinted lithographic plates, green pebble-grained cloth titled gilt on the upper cover, original brown endpapers - the front free endpaper is loose and frayed at the edges, inscription in ink on the verso of the verso of this endpaper reads, 'John Marshall, from his affectionate friend John Cartwright, Xmas 1877, Mouille Point,' an inscription in ink has been partly erased from the title page, the margins of the title page and first three leaves of text are frayed and have been repaired, fore margin the plates of The Public Library and Museum is frayed and repaired, and there is a crease from top to bottom through the printed area, binder's ticket of Kelly & Sons, Water Street, Strand at the bottom of the rear paste-down endpaper. The cloth is worn at the top and bottom of the spine and at the corners. The double tinted lithographs are bright and free of foxing. A very good copy. 

Mendelssohn (Sydney) South African Bibliography, volume 1, page 177, There are twelve plates, as follows : (1) View of Cape Town from Table Bay. (2) The Government House. (3) St. George's Cathedral from Wale Street. (4) The Public Library and Museum from the Botanic Gardens. (5) Adderley Street and the Dutch Reformed Church. (6) The Entrance to the Castle. (7) The Roman Catholic Cathedral. (8) The Lutheran Church, Strand Street. (9) The Presbyterian Church, St. Andrew's Square, (10) Simon's Town. (11) Port Elizabeth. (12) Graham's Town from the Bay Road. The views are all tinted lithographs. The descriptive letterpress is ample and instructive, and gives, in the majority of instances, a complete history of the building depicted. 

Bradlow (Frank R.) A Commentary on Thomas Bowler’s Pictorial Album of Cape Town with Views of Simonstown, Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, Cape Town, C. Struik, (Pty) Ltd, 1966, a booklet issued with the facsimile reprint published in that year, discusses both the printing of the plates and the text. The plates were drawn on stone by W.L.Walton (lith.) and printed by M.& N.  Hanhart, (Lith. Imp.) both well-known in London at the period. Bradlow continues, 'The text or letterpress, as it was called, was printed in South Africa by Saul Solomon & Company and it would seem that the complete work was bound in Cape Town.' However, the present copy bears a binder's label, or ticket, at the base of the rear paste-down endpaper - Bound By Kelly & Sons, Water St., Strand. 

For a concise biography and portrait of Bowler see: Ancestors Research South Africa (https://www.ancestors.co.za/thomas-bowler/)