Krakatoa Eruption in the Straits of Sunda, Anjer Before the Wave, 1883

An original hand-colored antique wood engraving of the Straits of Sunda, published under the heading "THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN THE STRAITS OF SUNDA." and carrying two views on the one sheet. The upper view is lettered "EAST COAST AND ISLANDS OF THE STRAITS OF SUNDA, WITH ANJER, A PORT OF JAVA." and shows the shoreline and the scatter of islands with the little port at the water's edge. The lower view, "THE STRAITS OF SUNDA, AS SEEN AFTER LEAVING ANJER.", looks back at the strait from a departing ship, with the volcanic cones standing out of the water. The hand coloring has been applied over the wood engraving in blues and warm greens.

The sheet is an original wood engraving from The Illustrated London News of September 1883, with hand coloring. The paper carried the first detailed reports of the eruption of Krakatoa to reach a British readership, illustrating them with engravings worked up in London from sketches and photographs sent out from the Indies. The Illustrated London News was printed in London and was the leading illustrated weekly of the Victorian period, and its topical engravings are now the main pictorial record of the disaster. The precise issue date within September 1883 is not established for this leaf.

The eruption of Krakatoa on 26 and 27 August 1883 was one of the loudest events in recorded history, and its sea waves killed tens of thousands of people around the Sunda Strait. Anjer, the little port shown here, was swept away entirely. These views were engraved from sketches made before the eruption and published while the news was still arriving in London, so the sheet shows the strait and its towns exactly as they were in the days before they were destroyed, which is what gives it its weight. Hand-colored examples are far less common than the plain leaves. It is an inexpensive and genuinely striking sheet for anyone drawn to volcanoes, natural history or the history of Indonesia, and the two views frame easily together.

Even age toning. Handling soiling along the top edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. All four corners complete.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.