View from the Ruins of Hertford College, Oxford Hand Coloured engraving 1820

MACKENZIE (Frederick, draughtsman) and SKELTON (Joseph, engraver). View from the Ruins of Hertford College, Oxford.
 
Oxford Almanack, University Press 1820.
 
Hand-coloured line engraving, image 480 × 370 mm (trimmed). Printed on wove paper with strong plate tone and original hand-colour, subtly applied in pale sky blue, umber and sepia. Mild surface toning and a few marginal wrinkles, otherwise very good.
 
Fine architectural view engraved by Joseph Skelton after Frederick Mackenzie for the 1820 Oxford Almanack, showing the Radcliffe Camera at left and the partially reconstructed fabric of Hertford College in the foreground, with workmen erecting scaffolding and cutting timber. Issued annually by the University of Oxford Press, the Almanack combined a large architectural plate with an engraved calendar block below; this example, neatly trimmed to the image, was likely prepared for framing.
 
Engraved by one of the city’s best-known topographical specialists, Joseph Skelton (1783–1837), who worked extensively for the Oxford University Press and the Ashmolean Museum.