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Alexander Von Humboldt, Des Prinzen Waldemar Von Preussen Nach Indien, Berlin: Deckerschen Geheimen Ober-Hofbuchdruckerei, 1853

(Four parts in 2 volumes)
Large folio; tinted lithographed portrait of Waldemar; 2 pictorial tinted lithographed additional titles by Bellermann after Kretzschmer after Prince Waldemar; 4 divisional half-titles; 9 hand-coloured engraved maps and plans on 6 sheets and 104 fine tinted lithographed plates by Bellermann and others. A. Haun and others after sketches and drawings by Prince Waldemar and others (one double-page); original brown cloth by Leisegang of Berlin, upper covers decorated in gilt with large Prussian eagle and lettered in gilt
59 x 45 x 4 cm (each)

Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Waldemar, son of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Karl of Prussia, visited Sri Lanka, India and Nepal in 1844-1846. As was the Prussian aristocratic custom, he joined the military and by 1838, he had risen in ranks to simultaneously become a Major in the Guard-Dragoons and Commander of the 3rd Guard Militia. In 1844, he was promoted to Colonel of the Guard Artillery Brigade. That same year, he joined Eduard Graf von Oriola, a former captain on the General-staff, and Lieutenant Albrecht Wilhelm von der Groeben on a tour of India. During this time, he witnessed the First Anglo-Sikh war, particularly the battles of Mudki (18 December 1845), Ferozeshah (21 and 22 December 1845) and Sabraon (10 February 1846), which are stamped in gilt in the present lot.

The two volumes in the present lot detail accounts of Waldemar's travels, edited by Alexander von Humboldt, as well as lithographs based on his drawings and maps. Mainly illustrations of scenes of India, Sri Lanka and the Himalayas, this work also contains views of Egypt, including Cairo and Alexandria. The present lot supposedly caused excitement in Germany because of its high-quality illustrations and its descriptions of relatively unknown places.

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