SUMMERS, W., illustrator; HUNT, G., engraver

Lewis & Co's Selection of Their Comic Black Jokes from the Designs of the Most Eminent Artists

London: Published by Lewis & Co. 1834. Six of the Incredibly Rare Tregear's Black Jokes "A Series of Laughable Caricatures on the March of Manners Amongst the Blacks" SUMMERS, W. illustrator. Lewis & Co's Selection of their Comic Black Jokes from the Designs of the Most Eminent Artists. Book, No. 1 (the number 1 in pencil). London: Published by Lewis & Co. [ca. 1834]. Oblong quarto (10 7/8 x 14 1/2 inches; 276 x 368 mm.). Lithographed title-page (wrapper) and Six (of twenty) superb lithographs (highlighted plates 7, 14, 15, 16, 17 & 18) by W. Summers, engraved by G. Hunt. Publisher's printed blue stitched wrappers, spine worn. A few small short marginal tears, otherwise near fine. This is the first part with just six of the twenty plates from Tregear's Black Jokes, being a series of laughable caricatures on the march of manners amongst the blacks. Twenty plates. London: Published by G.S. Tregear, at his Humorous and Sporting Print Shop, Cheapside, 1834. Tregear's Black Jokes were series of prints issued by the London engraver and print-seller Gabriel Shire Tregear. In their style and subject matter, they are an adaptation of Edward W. Clay's earlier lithographic series Life in Philadelphia (1828-30), which sought to lampoon and ridicule the social pretensions of black Philadelphians though a number of exaggerated situations and compositions. Edward Clay had been inspired by George & Robert Cruikshank's Life in London, a copy of which he saw while on a trip to England. Tregear followed this format, producing vivid hand-colored aquatints from Hunt's engravings of W. Summers' original caricatures that far exceed Clay's in their technical accomplishment. The series relies heavily on its humor being drawn from the incongruity of placing Africans in overtly European social contexts. The ‘joke' is continued with the extensive use of patois, deepening the sense of social and racial disparity. Exceptionally Rare: According to OCLC there is just one complete copy in libraries and institutions worldwide: Harvard University, Houghton Library (MA, US). In 2019 we sold a complete colored copy to a private collection. We have never seen these plates uncolored before. The only complete copy to have appeared at auction (at least since 1930) "worn & stained" was at (Sotheby's, London (July 26, 1984 - lot 427 £1,250 + auctioneers premium). An incomplete copy (lacking the title-page and the last eight plates was sold at Swann Galleries in New York, April 16, 1998 - lot 183 $3,400 + auctioneers premium). Gabriel Shear Tregear (1802-1841) also known as Gabriel Shire Tregear, was an English publisher of caricatures and prints. He was married to Ann McLean, the sister of print-seller and publisher Thomas McLean. Active from the late 1820s until his death, he operated his "Humorous and Sporting Print Shop" from quarters near today's 123 Cheapside, London. His shop was renowned, and later infamous, for the multitude of caricatures and prints filling its windows. He was forced to reduce the number of displayed items after a child was accidently struck by a passing wagon due to the size of the gathered crowd near the shop. Artists and caricaturists published by Tregear included a member of the Cruikshank family of caricaturists, Isaac Robert Cruikshank. Tregear published many series, of which Flights of Humour appears to be the longest, running to 95 prints or more. They are generally undated. The "Rum Jokes" series ran to at least 43 prints, and cover hunting, shooting, and fishing, plus racing events, skating, billiards and the building trade. His "Black Jokes" were described in an advertisement as "being a Series of Laughable Caricatures on the March of Manners Amongst the Blacks." The Plates: • "No. 1: The Promenade" • "No. 2: The Lady Patroness/of/Alblacks" • "No. 3: Marriage ala Mode" • "No. 4: The Christening" • "No. 5: Venus and Adonis" • "No. 6: The Route" • "No. 7: The Card Party/They Are Certainly Black Legs" • "No. 8: The Breaking Up" • "No. 9: Othello/Desdemona Asleep" • "No. 10: The Concert" • "No. 11: Miss White's birth-day, Party" • "No. 12: The Lubbers Quarrel" • "No. 13: Blackberrying" • "No. 14: Don Juan and Zerline" • "No. 15: Cinderella and the Black Prince" • "No. 16: The Portrait" • "No. 17: The First Lesson" • "No. 18: The Advertisement" • "No. 19: The Wedding Feast." • "No. 20: The Elopement" Abbey, Life 322. .

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Book number: 05180

Catalogue: Illustrated Books

Keywords: HUNT, G., engraver Caricatures Black Literature

SZYK, Arthur; Roth, Cecil

Haggadah, the

Jerusalem [and] Tel-Aviv:: Published by "Massadah" and "Alumoth" , 1957. Worthy to be Placed Among the Most Beautiful of Books that the Hand of Man has Produced" One of a very few copies of the trade edition bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe [SZYK, Arthur, illustrator]. The Haggadah. Executed by Arthur Szyk. Edited by Cecil Roth. Jerusalem [and] Tel-Aviv: Published by "Massadah" and "Alumoth" 1962. A Special Copy of the 1957 Trade Edition - Bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe in the Deluxe Full Morocco Binding of the Original Edition of 1939. Later trade edition (first published in 1939 in a deluxe limited edition of 250 copies). Large quarto (10 1/2 x 8 1/4 inches; 268 x 210 mm.). Printed in black, sanguine, purple, blue, red, and green inks on [56] double-folded leaves. Fourteen full-page and numerous vignettes and border decorations printed in color. Text in English and Hebrew on facing pages (the illustrations are on the Hebrew pages). "The illustrations contained herein are reproductions of originals of Arthur Szyk of New-Canaan, Connecticut, U.S.A. Engraved by The Sun Engraving Co. England" (verso of title-page). Publisher's full blue morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (stamp-signed in gilt on the front turn-in). Covers with gilt triple fillet border, front cover stamped in gilt with a large emblem of a high priest holding the matzoh and Passover wine, spine decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, board edges with gilt dotted rule, turn-ins decoratively tooled in gilt, Szyk's illustration of Moses supporting the Ten Commandments printed monochromatically on cream paper and mounted as doublures. A very fine copy. "During many of his years of travel, Szyk had been working on a large project of illumination, The Haggadah. The work took on a special meaning in light of the then growing anti-Semitism in Europe. Passover is a festival of freedom, and The Haggadah tells the story of Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt. In order to heighten the topical message and relate the historical events to contemporary ones, Szyk emblazoned the Egyptians with the Nazi swastika. However, fearing reprisals, publishers on the continent would not touch the book as long as it included this symbol.. Szyk removed the swastika, believing that the underlying message of the book was still clear and it was more important to see the project through to publication. A deluxe volume in a limited edition of 250 copies was published in 1940 by the Beaconsfield Press in London. Bound in gold-stamped leather, with end pages printed on silk, the full color illuminations are printed on double-leaf parchment and an English translation is matched to the Hebrew text. While the pages of English are decorated with small, intricate, sepia-toned emblems, the emphasis in on the illuminated Hebrew pages and the brilliant colors and striking combinations which are jewel-like in affect. This book was amongst the most expensive new publications - in 1940 the price in the USA was $525 and in the UK 100 Guineas (£105.00). One contemporary reviewer [‘The Haggadah—A Sumptuous Illustrated Edition,' The Times Literary Supplement, 22 February 1941, p. 9] called it ‘worthy to be placed among the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has produced'. The first copy of the printing was presented to George VI, King of England, to whom the book is dedicated" (Irvin Ungar, Justice Illuminated: The Art of Arthur Szyk (1999), pp. 80-81). .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05500

Catalogue: Illustrated Books

Keywords: Roth, Cecil Illustrated Books Judaica Fine Bindings Fine Printing Religion Judaica

SZYK, Arthur, illustrator

Story of Joseph and His Brothers, the

New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1949. Joseph and his Brothers Illustrated by Arthur Szyk SZYK, Arthur, illustrator. The Story of Joseph and his Brothers. As told in the King James version of the Holy Bible & Illustrated by Arthur Szyk. New York: The Limited Editions Club, 1949. Limited to 2500 copies of which this is No. 138 and is signed in blue pencil by the general editor, Jean Hersholt. Small folio (12 x 7 7/8 inches; 305 x 200 mm.). 51, [1, blank] pp. Fourteen mounted full color plates including nine-full page. Publisher's brown cloth over boards, additional color plate onlaid onto front cover, spine sand front cover lettered in silver. A fine copy. "The story of Joseph and his Brothers is told here in the beautiful language used by King James' translators of The Holy Bible. It is illustrated by Arthur Szyk and included in the series called the Evergreen Tales of which Jean Hersholt is General Editor; and it has been prepared, for special subscribers only, by The Limited Editions Club. The edition consists of twenty-five hundred numbered copies, of which this is number "138" and this copy is signed by "Jean Hersholt for Louise" Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) was a graphic artist, book illustrator, stage designer, and caricaturist. Szyk was born into a prosperous middle-class Jewish family in Lodz, in the part of Poland which was under Russian rule in the nineteenth century. All of his life he worked both for his homeland and his faith. Before the second world war his work was renowned in Poland, France, and Great Britain. He moved to London in 1937 where he spent four years creating the magnificent paintings for the Haggadah. He moved to the USA in 1940 and his work became truly popular for his scathing caricatures of the Axis leaders Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito. His work was characterized by a rejection of modernism and its embrace of Medieval and Renaissance traditions, especially illuminated manuscripts. He illustrated such traditional works as Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales, the Haggadah, and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 04671

Catalogue: Illustrated Books

Keywords: Bibles Religion Signed Limited Edition Judaica

WOODWARD, George Moutard

Gradation from a Greenhorn to a Blood

London: William Holland, 1790. To hold, as 'twere, the Mirror up to Nature." (William Shakespeare) The Rarest of all 'Mustard' George's Publications.. WOODWARD, George Moutard. Gradation from a Greenhorn to a Blood. Altered from an Original Essay, published about the Year 1740; And Adapted to the Taste and Fashion of the Year 1790: With Several Additions; and The Progressive Situations Represented in Characteristic Designs, Exhibiting the following Characters from Life.. [London: William Holland, 1790]. First (only) edition. Large folio (20 x 12 3/4 inches; 508 x 432 mm.). Engraved title-page (12 x 10 1/8 inches; 305 x 257 mm.), and eight superb tinted aquatint plates engraved (16 x 10 1/2 inches; 406 x 267 mm.), each with an accompanying leaf of text. Title-page, plates and text tipped-in to an early gray paper album. Chemised in a felt-lined quarter black morocco over marbled boards clamshell case. A wonderful series of drawings illustrating an article by John Hawkesworth, published in The Adventurer (1753), in which he traces the moral decline from "A Greenhorn", through "A Jemmy", "A Jessamy", "A Smart", "An Honest Fellow", "A Joyous Spirit", "A Buck", and finally to "A Blood". "For anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature, to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure." (Hamlet - William Shakespeare). "The text was altered by Woodward from the original essay of 1740 Very rare: Only one copy found, at Yale." (William Gordon). The Plates: 1. A Greenhorn - (the simple son of a wealthy farmer - a very green country boy..) 2. A Jemmy - (four years later, now a young man void of understanding - he wanders into St. James's Park..) 3. A Jessamy - (he assumes a military air - he peeps through his eyeglass at every female he meets..) 4. A Smart - (he receives his inheritance and assumes an are of greater confidence and freedom..) 5. An Honest Fellow - (he openly declares that there is no enjoyment in life equal to women, friends, and wine..) 6. A Choice Spirit - (he becomes a mimic and sings songs of his own composition in so droll a manner..) 7. A Buck - (his topics of merriment exhausted - he has no other recourse than to mischief..) 8. A Blood - (having mortgaged his estate for more than its worth - he commits highway robbery and is imprisoned..) George Moutard Woodward (1760?-1809) was "a prolific and popular designer of social caricature much in the style of Bunbury, etched chiefly by Thomas Rowlandson and Isaac Cruikshank.. [his caricatures] display a wealth of imagination and insight into character.. extremely entertaining" (DNB). "Another popular caricaturist of the day was George Moutard Woodward, commonly called ‘Mustard George.' Woodward, according to his friend [Henry] Angelo, was the son of a land agent and spent his youth in a country town, where nothing was less known than everything pertaining to the arts. ‘A caricaturist in a country town,' said Mustard George, ‘like a bull in a china shop, cannot live without noise; so, having made a little noise in my native place, I persuaded my father to let me seek my fortune in town.' Thanks to a small allowance from his father, supplemented by his own earnings, George was able to enjoy life in his own Bohemian fashion, and ultimately took up his quarters at the ‘Brown Bear,' Bow Street, where he was able to study the inhabitants of the roundhouse and the regular attendants at the police-court. At the ‘Brown Bear' he died suddenly, departing in character with a glass of brandy in his hand, and was long mourned by his tavern associates." (Paston, Social Caricature in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 137-138). Gordon, BC-32; Not in Abbey or Tooley. .

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Book number: 04685

Catalogue: Illustrated Books

Keywords: Caricatures