Bartlett, William Henry

Bartlett was born in Kentish Town, London, in 1809. He was a student of John Britton (1771-1857), and became one of the first illustrators and topographers of his generation.

Bartlett traveled all over England. In the mid and late 1840s, he traveled extensively in the Balkans and the Middle East, and also made 4 trips around the USA between 1835 and 1852. In 1835, Bartlett first visited the United States to sketch the buildings, cities, and landscapes of the northeastern states. Engravings in fine detail reproduced the American landscape: lands, lakes, rivers.

Bartlett published illustrations of the Transatlantic nature with the text Nathaniel Parker Willis . A collection of American landscapes was published in London in 30 monthly editions from 1837 to 1839. Volumetric editions of his works were published from 1840 onwards. His impressions of Canada were collected in the Canadian Digest in 1842.

Bartlett made many naturalistic sepia drawings in the exact size for engraving. His species engravings are widely copied by artists of that time, but there are no oil paintings signed by him.

Engravings based on Bartlett's drawings and prints were later used in the posthumous edition of the history of the United States of North America, his work was continued by BB Woodward and published in 1856.

Bartlett William Henry died of a fever aboard a French ship off the coast of Malta upon his return from his last trip to the Middle East in 1854.

For Bartlett, the main task was to convey the impressions of wildlife, from the sights of different countries and peoples, as he wrote in the preface to one of the books (London, 1849).