Sketches of Portchester Castle

Chichester: Printed by I.T. Lewis, 1838. Lithographed title page and 15 b/w lithographed plates by E. Fudge after I. Stockman, with tissue guards + pp. [vi] letterpress descriptive text; plate 8 misbound after plate 10; light foxing, mostly marginal; contemporary half calf over green pebbled-cloth, with title lettered in gilt to morocco label on front cover. One of the Roman ‘Saxon Shore’ forts established in the late 3rd century, Porchester Castle boasts some of the best preserved Roman fortifications north of the Alps. It was used as a gaol for prisoners of war between the 17th century and the Napoleonic Wars, but twenty years later it seems to have become a picturesque tourist attraction. Our book was a local production, drawn by a local artist and engraved and printed locally. The dedicatee, Thomas Thistlethwayte, owned the castle at the time. The Hampshire Advertiser reported that the book was issued in three parts in 1837-38, praised the ‘fidelity and beauty’ of Stockman’s views (which ‘well maintained his previous high reputation’) and noted that Fudge had been Stockman’s pupil (Hampshire Advertiser, 13 May 1837 and 21 April 1838). Plates: Saxon entrance to St. Mary's Church Portchester Castle; Portchester Castle from the Lake; The Landing Place; West View of the Keep; Entrance Gate and Tower; West View; Fortified Entrance of the Court Yard ; The Keep; Queen Elizabeth's Oratory; Queen Elizabeth's Oratory and Drawing Room; Queen Elizabeth's Tower; St. Mary's Church, Portchester; Interior of St. Mary's Church; The Castle from the inclosed [sic] area; Castle Street, Portchester; The Castle from Paulsgrove. Two institutional copies recorded (misdated 1830), at Yale and the University of Southampton. OCLC: 702381076 and 1117196340. Not in Abbey. Book