WAR IMPRESSIONS (Edition De Luxe, the engraver’s copy)

De Luxe edition:254 pages, 8vo (277 x 215 mm), colour frontispiece portrait of Lord Roberts, 99 plates - 90 in colour and 8 tinted - captioned on the facing tissue guards, facsimile letters, white vellum cloth with a design printed on the front and spine, titling in gilt on the front and spine, top edge gilt, others uncut, green silk place marker, a very good copy.

The colophon reads: The Edition de Luxe is limited to three hundred and fifty copies of which this is the Engraver's Copy with a water colour sketch of General John French signed by the artist.

With a four page Announcement or prospectus for the book issued by A. & C. Black describing the publication and listing the plate and with an order form. Of the production of the book and plates the Announcement states, ‘The distinguished artist himself has supervised the reproduction of his pictures, and it may be said that never before have results of so great delicacy and effectiveness been attained by printing from colour blocks. It is due to Messrs. Carl Hentschel, Ltd., the engravers and printers of the illustrations, to say that they have left little to be desired in their share of the work.’

'There is good reason for believing that this work will attain a unique position in the Literature of the South African campaign. Although Mr Mortimer Menpes was actively engaged, during the war, in Special Correspondence for Black and White Budget, this work is not in any measure a compilation of what he has already published. On the contrary it is entirely fresh.'

For a biography of the artist and his activities in South Africa see Greenwall (Ryno) Artists and Illustrators of the Anglo-Boer War, Cape Town  1992, pages 172/173.

Inman (Colin) A & C Black Colour Books, A Collector’s Guide and Bibliography 1900-1930, 258, page 144.