[COPENHAGEN, 1801.]

Fairburn's plan of Parker and Nelson's victory before Copenhagen, April 2nd 1801.

London, John Fairburn, 22 April 1801. 610 x 490 mm, engraving with original wash colour; letterpress text below; some marginal repairs. This broadsheet includes a map of the ‘passage of the sound to Copenhagen & Draco, exhibiting the track of the British fleet’ and a ‘view of the attack upon the line of defence before Copenhagen, by Lord Nelson April 2 1801’. The letterpress text contains, in addition to a key for the ‘View of the attack’, Nelson’s account of the action (printed in the London Gazette Extraordinary, 15 April 1801), and a list of killed and wounded in the attack.The Copenhagen campaign restored Nelson’s public standing as one of England’s most talented naval officers following his scandalous return from Naples with the Hamiltons and the breakdown of his marriage. In it, he defeated the Danish navy in a bold and dangerous attack, ignored an order from his superior, Sir Hyde Parker, which would have been catastrophic for the British squadron, and successfully negotiated a truce which bought the English navy time to secure the Baltic from Russia. In marked contrast to Nelson, Parker had proven slow to react and overly cautious, which resulted in his being replaced in his command by the former shortly after.In Britain, ‘there was no doubt who had won the glory. Lord Spencer stressed that Nelson “need be in no anxiety about the feelings of the Country on your account. They give, as they ought, the whole merit in so very hazardous and difficult an attack to the man who carried [it] into execution, and the battle of Copenhagen will be as much coupled with the name of Nelson as that of the Nile”. Furthermore, “the universal applause of a grateful nation and having already been looked up to as the best proof of our glory in war, will most probably be blest as the principal instrument of procuring an honourable peace”. The King and Parliament offered their thanks’ (Lambert, Nelson: Britainia’s god of war p. 208).Not found in COPAC.

• GBP 4,750.00 > other currencies
• ordernr.: T2900

• bookseller: Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (GREAT BRITAIN)