Inscription on mat at lower left: Harboro' Sands; numbered "1" at lower right hand corner of the mat opening; etching stamped with Turner's studio monogram stamp below the image, centered between the name of the artist and engraver.
India paper proof in the preliminary etched state for an engraved vignette by J.C. Allen after J.M.W. Turner, entitled "Harborough Sands"; according to Rawlinson, the engraving is one of an unpublished group of 5 plates and 3 vignettes after drawings by Turner formerly in the possession of Thomas Holloway (1800-1883) and erroneously identified in previous sources under the title "Holloway's Continuation of 'England and Wales'". Cf. Rawlinson, page 169-173.
Print mounted on backing sheet 437 x 302 mm
The first of a set of 8 progressive proofs on india paper for Turner's vignette, some of them touched by the artist.
Print shows a flat, sandy shore, with many figures of fishermen and women in foreground and a headland across a bay to left, with a tower or a lighthouse on a point. Fishing-boats are shown ashore on right and the setting sun is reflected across the water.