Bourne (John C.)

including its Geology
London, David Bogue, 1846.
Second printing of the first edition of 1843 (generally held to the first printing with amended title-page, as few copies of the original issue were sold). Probably the grandest work from the early days of railways, containing many iconic images now familiar because of their use in subsequent publications. This copy is rendered particularly collectable due to the plates relating to the railways being brought to life skilfully by a talented colourist.

Although the work is commonly attributed to Bourne, the descriptive text was actually written by George Thomas Clark, an engineer & respected geologist who worked with Brunel on two sections of the line and was responsible for the Basildon and Moulsford bridges. Like Bourne’s representations of the London and Birmingham Railway, the work is one of the few detailed contemporary visual records of the construction methods and the scenery shortly after the completion of the railway, but in this case a smaller proportion of the illustrations show the construction work in progress.

“This volume furnishes that information, with much other interesting; matter of a collateral nature. Mr. Bourne’s lithographic drawings are already favourably known, and it is sufficient to say that he has displayed the same spirit, taste, and accuracy of delineation in this work as in his former subjects. The present views embrace thirty-six different points upon the Great Western, from the Paddington Station and the Hanwell Viaduct, to the Slough and Swindon Stations; and particularly the Great Box Tunnel, also the interesting scenery and works in the vicinity of Bath and Bristol. There are also fourteen architectural drawings as an Appendix, being views and details of the most remarkable ancient churches upon the line of the railway, their fonts, doorways, sepulchral effigies, &c.” (The Gentleman’s Magazine, 1846)..