Irish railway.- Nichol (Andrew) Five Views of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway...with a description of this important national work, first edition, 5 superb hand-coloured aquatints by J.Harris after Nichol, some light staining and finger-marking, little spotting, yellow endpapers, contemporary red half morocco over red cloth (without original printed wrappers), gilt, titled in gilt on upper cover, some staining (including ink), corners worn, rubbed and scuffed, [Bobins 1568], 4to, Dublin, William Frederick Wakeman, 1834 [text dated 20th October at end & plates dated October, 1834].

⁂ Rare, with only a handful of copies offered at auction since 1913. It was issued to celebrate the inauguration of Ireland's first passenger railway, and the plates superbly 'convey the scale of the project and the engineering feats that had been required to build this railway.' (Bobins). After a series of setbacks (including the destruction of a bridge by a storm) it opened in December 1834 with two engines, the Vauxhall and the Hibernia, which were able to reach speeds of over thirty miles an hour.

Provenance: By descent through an Anglo-Irish family.