Okehampton & Fingle Bridge in Dartmoor
Artist: Dawson - Etched by: Dawson
Editor: Philip Gilbert Hamerton

100+ years old art print .ebay.. in excellent condition .ebay.. reverse side is blank !

Size: Size of each image: 3 3/8 x 5 3/8, overall print size incl. blank margins: 9 x 13 1/2 inches (1 inch = 2,54 cm)
Condition: Excellent condition. Printed on heavier paper. Plate mark present. Light overall age toning.
Two etching images printed on one sheet of paper as shown.

PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON (1834—1894) was an English artist and author. In 1866 he published his standard work on Etching and Etchers. He was also an art critic to the Saturday Review. In 1870 he established an art journal of his own, The Portfolio, a monthly periodical, each number of which consisted of a monograph upon some artist or a group of artists, frequently written and always edited by him. The monographs were accompanied by the original prints taken from the plates, prepared by eminent artists of the day for the purpose of being published in The Portfolio.

The railway sweeps round the base of the Moor to Okehampton. As the train rumbles over the spider-like Meldon Viaduct, one hundred and sixty feet above the Ockment, a wild view opens up of the moorland valleys beneath Yes Tor. Another hundred yards or so, and we come in sight of the Castle, a beautiful ruin, built, or at any rate commenced, by the De Redvers, whom the Conqueror created Earl of Devon. It is the lion of Okehampton. The town lies far below the railway, and is a quiet, unpretentious little borough, owing what attraction it may possess to a position among some of the finest, and certainly by far the boldest, scenery of the borders. There is a particularly fine view from a hill-side to the north of the town. The deep valley conceals the houses, but the fine church tower stands boldly forth against the great sweep of the Park, as the wild slope, melting almost imperceptibly into the Moor, is called, while, above all, the rugged crests of the tors peer over the downs. The one on the extreme left of our illustration—Yes, probably East Tor—is two thousand and thirty feet above the level of tlie sea. And space fails to tell of the wooded ravine of Belstone Cleave, the rocky valley of the Taw, and the many romantic combes lying between Cawsand Beacon and Chagford. Most have some picturesque cottar dwelling ; more than one shelters an ancient farm-house with fine Tudor porch and lattice window. In favoured spots, where the keen moorland blast cuts not everything down to stunted proportions that is unguarded by stone wall, the sycamore flourishes exceedingly, and stretches its long arms lovingly over tiled roof and thatched linhay, green with mossy cushions.

[Source, The Portfolio for 1889, pp. 69-70.]

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