A treasured collection of watercolours and old photographs depicting 19th-century Bermuda will go under the hammer at Sotheby’s in New York next week.

The two lots showcasing the island’s history are part of a Fine Books and Manuscripts auction that also feature Charles Dickens first editions and signed Albert Einstein literature. The first lot is a collection of watercolours of Bermuda and other Caribbean islands painted by British soldier Edmund Gilling Halliwell and is expected to fetch between $80,000 and $120,000.

Lieutenant Halliwell was an adjutant of the 20th or East Devon Regiment who married the daughter of Governor Colonel William Reid.

He took up watercolour painting at his wife’s encouragement and created the collection of drawings that showcased Bermuda and other islands including Trinidad and the Bahamas in the 1840s. Sotheby’s lot description states: “The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Library holds an album of drawings and we know of but eight other extant watercolours of Bermuda by Halliwell located at the Bermuda Historical Society Museum.

“We believe the present watercolours of Bermuda by Halliwell to be the only in private hands and perhaps the earliest watercolours of the island available.”

The second Bermuda lot is a photograph album dating back to between 1866 to 1869 with pictures depicting ten different scenes on the island including St George’s, Dockyard and Flatts.

The collection of photographs is expected to go for between $4,000 and $6,000.