About this sheet
This is a set of three original antique steel engravings, sold together as one lot, from the first volume of The Turkish Empire Illustrated, published in London by Peter Jackson about 1850. The sheets are, in order: Janina; Tomb of Ali Pasha and Fatima in the Court of the Seraglio; Valley of the Suli, the Ancient Acheron. Janina seen across its lake from a ruined wall, the walled citadel and the serai of Ali Pasha standing out on their promontory with minarets above the water, and the great gray escarpment of the Pindus filling the distance. The court of the seraglio at Janina with the domed iron cage of Ali Pasha's tomb at the left, the long arcaded serai behind, Albanian horsemen exercising in the open ground and groups of men seated on rugs in the foreground. The gorge of the Acheron cutting between enormous flanking mountains, the Suliot stronghold visible as a white line of building on the cliff top at the left, a mule train on the track below and the river running out of the shadow at the foot of the plate.
The plate comes from The Turkish Empire Illustrated: Constantinople and its Environs, with the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, drawn from nature by Thomas Allom with descriptions by the Reverend Robert Walsh, chaplain to the British embassy at the Ottoman Porte. The sheets were engraved on steel for Fisher, Son and Company in the late eighteen thirties and printed again for this edition by Peter Jackson at the Caxton Press in Angel Street, Saint Martin's le Grand, London, with a Liverpool address at Post Office Place, about 1850. The technique is steel engraving, worked by a named London engraver from Allom's own drawing, and the credit lines are printed in the lower corners of the plate with the publisher's imprint centered beneath. Impressions from this series are uncolored as issued, and this sheet has never been colored later.
Janina was the capital of Ali Pasha, the Lion of Yannina, whose semi independent court drew Byron and Hobhouse and half the travelers of the Regency, and this is the classic prospect of the city from the lake. Ali Pasha was killed on the island in the lake in 1822 and buried here, and the grilled tomb in the left foreground is the actual monument, which makes this the most specific historical subject in the Epirot group. They are three original sheets sold together, and the set is never split. Hung together in matching frames the sheets read as one piece of wall rather than as separate prints, and the uniform plate size makes an even line above a sideboard, a bed or a run of stairs.
Even age toning throughout. Marked handling soiling along the edges of all three sheets. Light foxing in the margins of all three sheets. All corners complete on every sheet.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
