Presentation copy from Richard Twiss to Mr. Whyte, founder of the celebrated Whyte’s Academy in Dublin, 1775

Richard TWISS – TRAVELS THROUGH PORTUGAL AND SPAIN, IN 1772 AND 1773 With copperplates; and An Appendix. London: printed for the author, and sold by G. Robinson, T. Becket, and J. Robson, 1775 4to,

FIRST EDITION , folding map, four full-page plates, two large folding plates, and an engraved tailpiece. A very good copy in contemporary diced calf; boards somewhat rubbed. Nicely rebacked with new spine and labels. Text block fresh and crisp. A few plates browned at the margins but generally in excellent condition.

Plates complete as called for: New / MAP of / SPAIN / and / PORTUGAL / 1775. J.Barber delint. et sculpt. M.A.Rooker sculp. (2) ALCOBAÇA. / ALMANZA. / SAX. / RONDA. . M.A.Rocker Delint.et Sculpt. / Publ. 1775. (3) [AQUEDUCT OF SEGOVIA(without title)] M.A.Rocker Delint.et Sculpt. (4) [NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA PEZ (without title). Rafael pinxit. F.Bartolozzi sculp. (5) The notes of FANDANGO   (6) ALHAMBRA GRANADA (without title] S.H.Grimm delt. V.M.Picot sculpt. (7) [BULLFIGHT IN LA PLAZA DE CADIZ (without title) Philys Reinagle Delin. Chas.White Sculpt. (8) [tail piece in p. 465: lion with the arms of Spain. S.H.Grimm delint. W.Byrne sculpt.

James Boswell recorded Samuel Johnson at the Literary Club of London commenting that Twiss’s account  “are as good as the first book of travels that you will take up. There are as good as those of Keysler or Blainville; nay, as Addison’s, if you except the learning. They are not as good as Brydone’s, but they are better than Pokocke’s.”

In a 1761 letter to Baretti, Dr. Johnson of Spain and Portugal being the least familiar countries to Europeans – countries that were not included in the Grand Tour and “peripheral to most travelers circuits”.

Twiss’s influential account was one of the earliest detailed accounts of travels in Spain and Portugal. The author provides numerous references to paintings by Spanish artists in churches, private collections, and the main royal palaces, No other travel writer before Richard Twiss had written with such enthusiasm about Spanish painting –  works by Velazquez and Murillo and Twiss’s favorite painter Jusepe de Ribera who is referenced seventeen times within the book. In the fourth appendix to this work Twiss gives an extensive bibliography of books published relating to Spain and Portugal and an extensive list of Spanish Literature.

Presentation inscription on the half title in the author’s very elegant hand to Samuel Whyte on the half title. Dated Dublin, 12 October, 1775.  

Samuel Whyte (1733-1811) opened his ‘Seminary for the Institution of Youth’ or ‘English Grammar School’ in Grafton Street, Dublin, in 1758. He advocated the education of women, on which he later wrote a treatise; accordingly, he accepted both male and female students. In 1772 Samuel Whyte published his ‘Thoughts on the Prevailing System of Education, Respecting Young Ladies as Well as Gentlemen: with Practical Proposals for a Reformation’ as an addendum to his collection of poetry, The Shamrock.  “Whyte included girls’ education in the ‘revolution in education’ that he proposed and rejected the argument that girls should not attend public schools.

Whyte denounced the fact that ‘there are no Colleges, or Academies, no established System of Instruction for Ladies.’ He expressed his admiration for educated French women who could engage in intellectual conversation and recommended a similar model for Irish women: ‘In the Name of all that is good and sensible! Let us throw off this Tyranny of Custom, and give the Minds of our Females a more liberal and proper cast.’ “While adhering to the common belief that women should be educated to make them better companions for men, Whyte’s pamphlet is remarkable for its radical language and his belief that women had a ‘right to literature”  – Reading the Irish Woman: Studies in Cultural Encounter and Exchange, 1714-1960).

As Patrick Fagan remarks : Catering for boys and girls, Catholics and protestants, Whyte’s Academy’s  co-educational, interdenominational ethos was, in Ireland at least, two centuries before its time.’