THACKERAY, William Makepeace; Doyle, Richard

Newcomes, the

London: Bradbury and Evans, 1853. First Edition of "The Newcomes" in the Original Parts [THACKERAY, William Makepeace]. The Newcomes. Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family. Edited by Arthur Pendennis, Esq. With Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Richard Doyle. Vol. I[-II]. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1854-1855 [i.e. October 1853-August 1855]. First edition. In the original twenty-four monthly parts in twenty-three (October 1853-August 1855). Octavo (8 13/16 x 5 5/8 inches; 225 x 143 mm.). Illustrations by Richard Doyle. Collates nearly complete, with the plates, advertisements, and slips as called for in Van Duzer, except for the following variations or omissions: Part IX with a two-page rather than a four-page advertisement for "Waterlow's Patent Improved" without the "Opening of the Crystal Palace, The Illustrated Crystal Palace Gazette" leaf; Part X without the inserted slip "Price One Shilling; Itinerary of the Great Northern Railway" at the beginning, as often. A few of the advertising slips are on different colored paper from those in Van Duzer. In the original yellow printed wrappers, as issued. A minimal amount of professional restoration to some spines. The back wrapper of Part XIX has been expertly replaced with a Part XXI back wrapper, advertising "Sir Walter Scott's Novels" rather than "Works on Gardening and Botany." Early ink signature on front wrapper of Part I, early ink signature of J.W. [?] on front wrapper of Part II, and early ink signature of Mr MacDonald on front wrapper of Part XXIII/XXIV. Part XII with early ink signature on verso of frontispiece and engraved title: Hy. Binmore, 437 Oxford St. London. Overall, this set shows very well, much better than most others that we have seen. Housed in a blue cloth clamshell case lettered in gilt on spine. The Newcomes "a novel by Thackeray, published in numbers 1853-5. The story, told by Arthur Pendennis, is concerned with the descendants of a self-made man, Thomas Newcome. His eldest son, Colonel Thomas Newcome, is a simple, unworldly soldier, who has lived most of his life in India. In contrast, his half-brothers Hobson and Brian are wealthy and pretentious. Colonel Newcome is a widower, and his only son Clive is sent home to England to be educated. When Clive is almost grown up, his father returns from India, and indulgently allows him to become an art student. Clive loves his cousin Ethel, daughter of Sir Brian Newcome, but Ethel's brother Barnes and her grandmother Lady Kew intend her to make a grand marriage. Ethel is intelligent and independent-minded, but finds it difficult to fight the pressures of the marriage-market; she allows herself to become engaged first to her cousin, Lord Kew, and, after that match is broken off, to Lord Farintosh. The disastrously unhappy marriage of Barnes, who treats his wife so badly that she runs away with a former admirer, Jack Belsize, makes Ethel decide that she will not marry at all, but will devote herself to her brother's children. Meanwhile Clive has been manœuvred into marriage to a pretty, superficial girl, Rosey Mackenzie. When Colonel Newcome's fortune is lost with the failure of the Bundelcund Bank, he and Clive and Rosey are reduced to extreme poverty, and Rosey's mother makes life so intolerable for the Colonel with her accusations and reproaches that he finally takes refuge from her by becoming a pensioner in the Grey Friars almshouse, where he dies. Rosey has also died, and Thackeray allows the reader to assume that Clive and Ethel will get married. Certain aspects of Clive's character were suggested by Leighton, whom Thackeray met in Rome" (The Oxford Companion to English Literature). Van Duzer 147. Wolff 6696. .

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Book number: 00197

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Doyle, Richard English Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature Illustrated Books Books in Parts Illustrated Books Books in Parts Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature

BAYNTUN-RIVIÈRE; THOMSON, Hugh; GASKELL, Mrs. [Elizabeth]

Cranford

London: Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1935. In a Fine Inlaid Binding by Bayntun (Rivière) [BAYNTUN (RIVIÈRE), binders]. THOMSON, Hugh, illustrator. GASKELL, Mrs. [Elizabeth]. Cranford. With a preface by Anne Thackeray Ritchie and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: Macmillan and Co. 1935. Later Hugh Thomson illustrated edition. Octavo (7 1/16 x 4 3/4 inches; 180 x 120 mm.). Frontispiece, xxx, 298 pp. With 110 black and white illustrations in the text. Bound by Bayntun (Rivière), Bath ca. 1935 in full dark blue crushed levant morocco, covers decoratively bordered in gilt, front cover with a beautifull inlaid design in red, tan, green and brown morocco reproduced from the illustration on page 240, spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt, gilt board edges and turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. A very fine example. The front cover illustration is taken from the text illustration on page 240 and depicts Mary Smith (the narrator) posting a letter to Miss Matty "I dropped it in the post on my way home, and then for a minute I stood looking at the wooden pane with a gaping slit which divided me from the letter.." Cranford, which originally appeared as a serial in Charles Dickens' magazine, Household Words, 1851-53, and saw its first publication in book form in 1853, is "a series of linked sketches of life among the ladies of a quiet country village in the 1830s..The greatest charm of Cranford, which has kept it unfailingly popular, is its amused but loving portrait of the old-fashioned customs and 'elegant economy' of a delicately observed group of middle-aged figures in a landscape" (Oxford Companion to English Literature). Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), a "strong and independent-minded woman" (The Feminist Companion to Literature), was an important proto-Feminist writer who often tackled unorthodox subjects in her novels. Cranford, for example, concerns a community of spinsters who glory in their freedom from male interference. Mrs. Gaskell was "'the most popular, with small question, the most powerful and finished female novelist of an epoch singularly rich in female novelists'" (Enclyclopedia of British Women Writers, p. 264, citing Mrs. Gaskell's obituary in The Athenaeum). "Critical awareness of Gaskell as a social historian is now more balanced by awareness of her innovativeness and artistic development as a novelist. While scholars continue to debate the precise nature of her talent, they also reaffirm the singular attractiveness of her best works" (ibid) of which Cranford is one. .

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Book number: 03147

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: THOMSON, Hugh GASKELL, Mrs. [Elizabeth] Illustrated Books Fine Bindings Gift Books

THOMSON, Hugh, illustrator; BARRIE, J.M.

Quality Street

London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1913. A School for Genteel Children In The Publishers Box [THOMSON, Hugh, illustrator]. BARRIE, J.M. Quality Street. A Comedy in Four Acts. Illustrated by Hugh Thomson. [London]: Hodder & Stoughton, [n.d. 1913]. First trade edition. Large quarto (10 3/8 x 7 7/8 inches; 263 x 200 mm.). [2], vii, [1], 197, [2], [1, blank] pp. Frontispiece and twenty-one mounted color plates, with descriptive tissue guards. Numerous black and white text illustrations. Publishers violet cloth over boards, front cover and spine pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt and green. Pictorial endpapers. Light foxing on half-title, ink signature on front free endpaper. A fine copy in the original cardboard box with a duplicate of the color plate facing page 3, pasted on top. Box strengthened at corners. Hugh Thomson was born in County Coleraine near Londonderry, on 1 June 1860. He gained praise and influenced many young artists through his book illustrations. He notably illustrated editions of William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and J.M. Barrie. Quality Street is a comedy in four acts by J. M. Barrie, written before his more famous work Peter Pan. The story, set in Napoleonic times, is about two sisters who start a school "for genteel children". "The important commission for.. Quality Street by J.M. Barrie, and in November [1910] the cover design and title-page were "under weigh". Early in December came a note from the eminent author to the artist asking him to lunch in order that they might "have a talk about the pictures", and a few weeks later the first drawings were done, Sending them on to his intermediaries, Hugh wrote that he took it for granted that Barrie would formally pass them even if they are not all he would like them to be. I don't see how an author ever can like illustrations of his work which must be so different to his own mental pictures. A surprise awaited him, however, for the drawings drew from Barrie a pleasant and welcome tribute: The pictures are quite delightful. I love to think such work is done for a play of mine, and am quite sure Quality Street could not have found such another illustrator in broad England. My criticism is that Phoebe as the schoolmistresss looks too young. I like you the better for this, and am in the plot with you. So don't you go and alter. I hope you will soon be better. Phoebe and Susan ought to give you some of the nice things sent to Miss Livvy. "I am very happy of you", as they would say." (Spielmann and Jerrold. Hugh Thomson. pp. 181-182). .

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Book number: 02984

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: BARRIE, J.M. Illustrated Books Signed Limited Edition English Literature Illustrated Books Plays

ALASTAIR; VOIGHT, Hans Henning; Pater, Walter

Sebastian Van Storck

London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1927. Walter Pater's "Sebastian van Storck," Illustrated by Alastair [ALASTAIR, illustrator]. PATER, Walter. Sebastian van Storck. With Eight Illustrations in Colour by Alastair and an Introduction by P.G. Konody. London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1927. Limited to 1,050 numbered copies (this copy being No. 40), each copy with one of the plates signed by the artist. Large quarto (12 3/8 x 10 1/8; 313 x 250 mm). 67, [1] pp. Eight color plates (including frontispiece). This copy with the third plate signed by Alastair in pencil. Original cream-colored cloth lettered in gilt and pictorially stamped in brown. Spine lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Very minor rubbing to spine and extremities. A near fine copy. Publisher's parchment dust jacket. Housed in the publisher's brown slipcase with printed paper label. Slipcase lacking spine and with some wear to edges. Walter Horatio Pater (1839-1894). English essayist, critic of art and literature, and writer of fiction. From 1885 to 1887 Pater published four new imaginary portraits each set at a turning-point in the history of ideas or art. These imaginary portraits included Sebastian van Storck, a powerful critique of philosophical solipsism, and perhaps Pater's most striking work of fiction. Alastair (Baron Hans Henning Voigt; 1887-1969). German artist, composer, dancer, mime, poet, singer and translator. Mysterious, flamboyant, enigmatic and attractive to many people, he was born of German nobility in Karlsruhe. In his youth he joined the circus and learned mime. Shortly after leaving school he studied philosophy at Marburg University where he met the writer Boris Pasternak. He is best known as an illustrator. His drawings, which are often decadent in spirit and have the look of Art Deco, are considered "The legitimate successor of Aubrey Beardsley whose conventions served him not as models to copy, but as bases for new rhythms pulsing with strange nervous energy and sensibility" (Introduction). .

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Book number: 00080

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: VOIGHT, Hans Henning Pater, Walter Illustrated Books English Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature Illustrated Books Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature Signed Limited Edition

WALPOLE, Hugh; PRIESTLEY, J.B.

Farthing Hall

London: Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1929. A Collaboration.. WALPOLE, Hugh. & PRIESTLEY, J.B. Farthing Hall. London: Macmillan and Co. Limited, 1929. First edition. Octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 191 x 127 mm.). [viii], [1]-275, [1, blank], [4 advertisements] pp. Publishers green ribbed cloth, spine lettered in gilt. A fine copy in the publisher's gray printed dust jacket, spine slightly darkened, a couple of small closed edge tears, small piece (1/8 inch) missing from top of spine. An excellent copy. The novel is a collaboration between Hugh Walpole and John Boynton Priestley. Walpole, the older novelist, writes as the young artist, while Priestley takes the character of the middle-aged academic. Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole, CBE (1884-1941) was an English novelist. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman, intended for a career in the church but drawn instead to writing. Among those who encouraged him were the authors Henry James and Arnold Bennett. John Boynton Priestley (1894-1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. .

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Book number: 04946

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: PRIESTLEY, J.B. Modern Firsts

WELLS, H.G.

Outline of History, the

London: George Newnes Limited, 1919. The Outline of History by H.G. Wells in the Original Twenty-Four Parts A Good Set in the Original Color Illustrated Wrappers WELLS, H.G. The Outline of History. Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind. Written with the Advice and Editorial Help of Mr. Ernest Barker, Sir H. H. Johnston, Sir E. Ray Lankester, and Professor Gilbert Murray. London: George Newnes Limited, [1919-1920]. First edition. Twenty-four quarto parts (11x 8 1/2 inches; 280 x 216 mm.). 780 continuous pp. Publisher's wrappers printed in full color. Forty-seven color and miscellaneous black & white illustrations throughout by J.F. Horrabin. Original pictorial publisher's notice affixed to upper wrapper of volume 15 to announce a price increase for the subsequent issues. Approximately one third of the front wrapper of volume VI neatly excised, loss to upper corner of upper wrapper to volume XVII, pencil under-linings and marginal notes in some volumes. Some wear to a few spines, nonetheless, a good example, scarce in the original parts. Chemised in a full black morocco slipcase with gilt lettering and rules, with a bit of wear to edges. Published every two weeks from November 1919 - November 1920, Wells' intent was neatly summarized in his subtitle. He was not happy with the quality of history textbooks prior to his writing and strove to create an enduring text that would illustrate the progress of mankind and civilization as a Darwinian continuum. His theme was that education would be the salvation of mankind: "Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe" he declared in the text, the catastrophe being another horrific conflict like the horrific World War which had ended a short time prior, and the recent Russian revolution, which as a socialist he was sympathetic to but had become disillusioned with after visiting the Soviet Union. The serial was an immediate popular success, so much so that the publisher, using the sheets from parts I-XII, issued a hardcover edition in July of 1920 and a second volume, comprised of the sheets of parts XII-XXIV, in November of the same year. This two volume hardcover edition was a massive best seller, later revised, and often reprinted. In this, its fragile, original multi-part state with fine cover illustrations by various artists, it remains scarce. Herbert George Wells (1866-1946) was an English writer. Prolific in many genres, he wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, history, popular science, satire, biography, and autobiography. Wells' science fiction novels are so well regarded that he has been called the "father of science fiction". James Francis "Frank" Horrabin (1884-1962) was an English socialist and for some time Communist radical writer and cartoonist. For two years he was Labour Member of Parliament for Peterborough. He attempted to construct a socialist geography and was an associate of David Low and George Orwell. In 1919 he created The Adventures of the Noah Family in The Daily News, originally a daily panel cartoon, later a continuing four-panel comic strip. It featured a suburban family who shared their names with the Biblical Noah and his sons, who lived at "The Ark", Ararat Avenue with their pet bear cub, Happy. The strip continued into the 1940s, in the News Chronicle after 1930, and was collected into several hard back books, most notably the Japhet and Happy Annuals and Summer Books between 1932 and 1952, and had a fan club, The Arkubs. He illustrated H. G. Wells' The Outline of History in 1920. In 1922 he created Dot and Carrie, a strip about two office workers, for The Star, which continued until 1962, moving to the Evening News in 1960. Hammond E18. Wells 70(n). .

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Book number: 00213

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: English Literature History Modern Firsts Modern Firsts Books in Parts History Literature

KELLIEGRAM BINDING; WHITE, Gilbert

Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, the

London: Printed [at the Chiswick Press] for J. and A. Arch; Longman and Co.[et al], 1837. A Superb Art Nouveau Binding [KELLIEGRAM BINDING]. WHITE, Gilbert. The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. With the Naturalist's Calendar; and Miscellaneous Observations, extracted from his papers. London: Printed [at the Chiswick Press] for J. and A. Arch; Longman and Co.[et al], [1837]. Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches; 216 x 134 mm.). xxiv, 640 pp. Forty-five engraved vignette illustrations. A New Edition; with notes , by Edward Turner Bennett and others. Original cloth spine bound in at end. Bound ca. 1910 in a stunning Art Nouveau binding of dark green crushed morocco, handsomely gilt and inlaid, by Kelliegram (stamp-signed in gilt on rear watered silk endleaf) Covers with fanciful Art Nouveau-style frame formed by inlaid flowers of red and blue and leaves in two shades of green, these inlays connected by gilt dots, and the spaces between them featuring swooping gilt birds and sprinklings of gilt dots; raised bands, spine compartments tooled in gilt with similar inlaid leaves and flowers, turn-ins with gilt tendrils and continuing the bird, flower, and leaf motifs, the turn-ins enclosing pictorial morocco doublures, the front doublure depicting Gilbert White's vine-covered house in Selborne, the rear a slate-roofed country church and cemetery, moss green watered silk endleaves, all edges gilt. Original cloth spine bound in at rear. With numerous engravings of flora, fauna, and landscapes in the text. Verso of front free endpaper with rectangular bookplate of Thos. D. Murphy. A fine copy. This is a lovely copy of White's beloved account of the wonders of nature, offered in a very pleasing pictorial binding from the firm that is best known for that kind of work. First published in 1789, Gilbert White's beloved account of the wonders of nature, which he wished to inspire readers to observe in their own backyards, "is open to everyone, for everyone has observed much of what it describes. Writer and reader each share the inheritance of the natural world, and delight in what is given, so that Selbourne becomes an expression of universal thanksgiving, treasured by all." (DNB) The present edition is in a binding that reflects the passions of the writer's life. Kelly & Sons had one of the longest histories in the London binding trade, having been founded in 1770 by John Kellie, as the name was then spelled. The firm was continued by successive members of the family into the 1930s. Though the bindery would never be considered among the two or three outstanding workshops, it produced consistently high quality bindings and was notably innovative in its designs. Our cover design is animated and unusual, the gilt birds in flight adding a charming note of whimsy to the graceful Art Nouveau design. As with many Kelliegram bindings, pictorial inlays are prominently featured - though here they are atypically large and found inside, rather than on, the covers. The doublures represent two things dear to White's heart: his Selbourne home, "The Wakes," and a small country church like the one where he served as a perpetual curate, forsaking a more brilliant career in the church or at Oxford in order to remain in the place that he loved. The doublure scenes employ at least ten different consonant colors of morocco and much incising to give a fine level of detail. .

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Book number: 04728

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: WHITE, Gilbert Fine Bindings Fine Printing Natural History

WILDE, Oscar; ZAEHNSDORF, binder

Lady Windermere's Fan

London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane at the Sign of the Bodley Head, 1893. I can resist anything except temptation" "Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about" WILDE, Oscar. Lady Windermere's Fan. A Play About a Good Woman. London: Elkin Mathews and John Lane at the Sign of the Bodley Head, 1893. First edition. One of fifty large-paper copies on hand-made paper. Quarto (8 5/8 x 6 5/8 inches; 220 x 169 mm.). [i, blank], [i], limitation], [iii-xvi], 132 pp. Handsomely bound by Zaehnsdorf ca. 1897 (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in) and with their exhibition stamp in black on rear paste-down. Full dark green crushed levant morocco, covers bordered in gilt enclosing a six-line gilt border. Spine with five raised bands decoratively framed and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt-ruled board edges, multi gilt-lined turn-ins, top edge gilt, others uncut. With the bookplates of the renowned collector C. S. Ascherson (dated 1897) and Paul Louis Weiller (also a famous book collector and a great friend of J. Paul Getty) on front paste-down. Housed in a felt-lined dark green cloth clamshell case, spine with leather label, lettered in gilt. A couple of tiny and unobtrusive minor stains on blank borders otherwise an absolutely fine copy in a wonderful and early, if somewhat austere binding by the great firm of Zaehnsdorf. Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St. James's Theatre in London. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband is having an affair with another woman. She confronts him with it but although he denies it, he invites the other woman, Mrs Erlynne, to his wife's birthday ball. Angered by her husband's supposed unfaithfulness, Lady Windermere decides to leave her husband for another lover. After discovering what has transpired, Mrs Erlynne follows Lady Windermere and attempts to persuade her to return to her husband and in the course of this, Mrs Erlynne is discovered in a compromising position. It is then revealed Mrs Erlynne is Lady Windermere's mother, who abandoned her family twenty years before the time the play is set. Mrs Erlynne sacrifices herself and her reputation to save her daughter's marriage. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 - 30 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays including Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the circumstances of his criminal conviction for homosexuality, imprisonment, and early death at age 46. Mason, 358. .

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Book number: 04564

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: ZAEHNSDORF, binder Irish Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature Plays Theater

WOLCOT, John; Pindar, Peter

Expostulatory Odes to a Great Duke, and a Little Lord

London: Printed for G. Kearsley, at Johnson's Head, No. 46, Fleet Street, 1789. Satires With An Irresistible Mix of Coarseness and Genuine Good Humour The Scarce Suppressed Edition [WOLCOT, John]. PINDAR, Peter. Expostulatory Odes to a Great Duke, and a Little Lord. By Peter Pindar, Esquire. London: Printed for G. Kearsley at Johnson's Head, 1789. First edition, suppressed. Reissued by Kearsley later in the same year as a New Edition, and in a pirated edition out of Dublin. Quarto in 2s (10 3/16 x 8 1/4 in; 258 x 206 mm). 56 pp. Contemporary quarter calf over marbled boards, worn. Front joint pulling. Contemporary repairs to margin of leaf O2 and to gutter margin of pp. 2-3. Contemporary inked notes and stain to titlepage. A good copy of a volume scarce in this, it's original incarnation. "John Wolcot [pseud. Peter Pindar] (bap. 1738, d. 1819), poet and satirist. In 1785 appeared the first canto of The Lousiad: an Heroi-Comical Poem, lampooning George III for a rumoured incident in which the monarch, on finding a louse on his plate, ordered the head-shaving of his cooks. Many others followed including: Ode upon Ode, or, A Peep at St James's in 1787, as well as further cantos of The Lousiad. "These anti-royalist satires with their irresistible mix of coarseness and genuine good humour proved immensely popular. In 1785 the cover price of 1s. more than doubled, and Dublin pirate editions began to appear. Wolcot had created a popular market, and at the height of his reputation sales numbered tens of thousands. The popularity of these rumbustious productions aroused concern in Whitehall, and it would seem that negotiations began with Wolcot to silence his attacks on the throne. As ever, Wolcot was susceptible to the prospect of financial gain, and a first payment of £300 had been made before he withdrew his compliance and returned the money, whether for financial or more principled reason is unknown. "But it is for his satires that he is justly famous. His two great subjects are the Royal Academy, and later the court and person of George III. As a satirist he combines two attributes rarely found together: he is both caustic and genuinely funny. His satirical odes are bursting with a rumbustious energy, a mischievous relish for absurdity, and a technical dexterity with verse which echoes his great hero Samuel Butler and adumbrates his admirer Byron. "Wolcot was immensely popular at the height of his career. In 1796 Wordsworth wrote: ‘What shall be said of Boileau, and Pope, and the redoubtable Peter? These are great names' (Early Letters of William and Dorothy Wordsworth, ed. E. de Selincourt, 1935, 156). His reputation spread abroad, as is evidenced by the incident of the visit of the Polish General Kosciuszko to London in 1797, where the distinguished visitor asked to meet Peter Pindar, whose satires had sustained him while imprisoned in St Petersburg. Nevertheless Wolcot established no literary school, though he left imitators after his death. His poetry reveals a great sensitivity to the social evils and injustices of the time—slavery, poverty, game laws, war profiteering—and his reviews show him to be kindly disposed to new writers and to women authors. With his lucrative subject of the king and court he was able to live by his pen: ‘The only man who really made money by poetry in the last decades of the 18th century was Wolcot' (A. S. Collins, The Profession of Letters, 1929, 92). "When asked by a lady if he had been a good subject to George III, he is said to have replied ‘I do not know anything about that, Madam, but I do know the King has been a devilish good subject for me' [Redding, Recollections, 1.258]" (Oxford DNB Online). "Peter Pindar" became the most prolific and successful burlesque poet of the later eighteenth century. His particular targets were the Royal Academy and the royal family. "Wolcott was always ready to libel kings, lords, or commons, without mercy" (Allibone, p.2811). "Dr. Wolcott..the most unsparing calumniator of his time" (Sir Walter Scott, Lockhart's Scott, ch. 73). Scarce in the marketplace. Halkett and Laing 865. NCBEL II,695. .

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Book number: 00848

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Pindar, Peter English Literature Eighteenth-Century Literature Poetry Eighteenth-Century Literature Poetry

WOODWARD, George Moutard

Attempts at Humour, Poetical and Physiognomical

London: B. Crosby, 1803. So Scarce It's No Laughing Matter WOODWARD, George Moutard. Attempts at Humour, Poetical and Physiognomical. London: Printed for the Author; Published by B. Crosby and Co. 1803. First edition. Quarto (10 x 7 5/8 in; 253 x 193 mm). 27, [1, blank] pp. Eight hand-colored etchings with original tissue guards, designed by Woodward and etched by Percy Roberts. Original printed blue-gray wrappers in later custom cloth dust jacket. Housed in a later leather-edged slipcase, its cloth matching that of the dust jacket. Exceptionally scarce. Not in Abbey, Tooley, or other standard references. OCLC records only five copies in institutional holdings worldwide. Eight verses by Woodward accompanied by his designs: 1. Giles and his Guinea. 2. Tom Long, Smith, the Doctor. 3. Female Constancy. 4. The Difficult Question. 5. Delia's Complaint at Sixty. 6. The Epicure and the Poets. 7. The Pilgrim. 8. Jack at the Play. "The Author deems it necessary to observe, that some of the following productions are founded on old prosaic anecdotes, though perhaps anecdotes not generally known; but, as the versification is entirely new, he has the example of some of the first humorous poets in his favour for dressing old friends in new clothes. "An attempt of the kind is however unquestionably as meritorious as setting Goosey Gander and Little Jack Horner to music. Under these considerations he submits them, with their attendant sketches, to the protection of a candid and liberal public' (Advertisement). Of George Moutard Woodward (1760?-1809), caricaturist and author, the DNB notes that he, "later known as Mustard George, grew up in a Derbyshire town, living with his father and, to judge by the evidence of his later writings, received a sound education. He took early to caricature, ridiculing his neighbours in Derbyshire; a folio of these drawings dated 1781 is in the Derby Local Studies Library, among a sizable collection of his prints, drawings, and book illustrations. His caricatures having caused something of a local stir, he persuaded his father to let him seek his fortune in London. "Apart from two caricature prints dated 1785 designed by Woodward and published by him from 28 Cary Street, Lincoln's Inn, London, it was not until 1790 that he made an impact on the London scene. Thereafter his output was copious. The British Museum catalogues list 525 examples of his work from the next twenty years, published by Holland, Fores, Ackermann, and latterly Tegg, all leading printsellers. These prints, designed by Woodward, are etched by others—Rowlandson, who was his friend and drinking companion, Isaac Cruikshank, Roberts, and Williams. Woodward's original drawings are vigorous.. [and] his value lay in his humorous ideas. "Woodward..might have rivalled Hogarth. Certainly his collaboration with Rowlandson constituted a lively, if frivolous, commentary on the social scene. Dorothy George described him as ‘original, prolific, varied, humorous and good-humoured,' and few students of the subject would dispute her conclusion that his death was ‘a loss to caricature' (George, English Political Caricature, 1.174)" (Oxford DNB). Gordon Library BC-17. Not in Abbey, Tooley. .

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Book number: 02805

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Color-Plate Books Caricatures Nineteenth-Century Literature Poetry

WOODWARD, George Moutard, illustrator; BRIDGES, Thomas

Burlesque Translation of Homer, A.

London: G.G. & J. Robinson, 1797. A Work full of Humor Which Often Transgresses the Bounds of Decency" With Twenty-Five Hand-Colored Etched Plates [WOODWARD, George Moutard, illustrator]. [BRIDGES, Thomas]. [GROSE, Francis, engraver?]. A Burlesque Translation of Homer. In Two Volumes. The Fourth Edition Improved. London: G.G. & J. Robinson, 1797. Fourth and best edition. Two octavo volumes (8 3/4 x 5 5/8 inches; 222 x 143 mm.). [6], 360; [4], 432 pp. Hand-colored etched frontispiece and twenty-four hand-colored, unsigned etched plates. In volume one, pp. 355/356 have been mis-bound after pp. 357/358. The hand-coloring is possibly contemporary or very early. Bound ca. 1920 by Root & Son (stamp-signed on verso of front free end-paper). Full polished calf, covers triple-ruled in gilt, spines with four wide raised bands, decoratively tooled in gilt in compartments, maroon and dark blue calf labels lettered in gilt, gilt ruled board-edges, decorative gilt turn-ins, gray end-papers, top edge gilt, others uncut. A fine and large copy with the plates colored by hand. Originally published in 1762 under the pseudonym Caustic Barebones, reprinted in 1764, and in enlarged form in 1767, 1770, and this, the fourth edition is the first edition with illustrations by Woodward. "Best edition, with humorous plates. A work full of humour, written by Thomas Brydges, but which often transgresses the bounds of decency." (Lowndes, The Bibliographers Manual of English Literature, volume II, p. 1101). We have never seen another colored copy. According to ABPC there has been only one other colored copy at auction over the past forty-five years (1979). We cannot locate any colored copies in OCLC. Of George Murgatroyd Woodward (1760?-1809), caricaturist and author, the DNB notes that he, "later known as Mustard George, grew up in a Derbyshire town, living with his father and, to judge by the evidence of his later writings, received a sound education. He took early to caricature, ridiculing his neighbours in Derbyshire; a folio of these drawings dated 1781 is in the Derby Local Studies Library, among a sizable collection of his prints, drawings, and book illustrations. His caricatures having caused something of a local stir, he persuaded his father to let him seek his fortune in London. "Apart from two caricature prints dated 1785 designed by Woodward and published by him from 28 Cary Street, Lincoln's Inn, London, it was not until 1790 that he made an impact on the London scene. Thereafter his output was copious. The British Museum catalogues list 525 examples of his work from the next twenty years, published by Holland, Fores, Ackermann, and latterly Tegg, all leading printsellers. These prints, designed by Woodward, are etched by others—Rowlandson, who was his friend and drinking companion, Isaac Cruikshank, Roberts, and Williams. Woodward's original drawings are vigorous.. [and] his value lay in his humorous ideas. "Woodward..might have rivalled Hogarth. Certainly his collaboration with Rowlandson constituted a lively, if frivolous, commentary on the social scene. Dorothy George described him as ‘original, prolific, varied, humorous and good-humoured,' and few students of the subject would dispute her conclusion that his death was ‘a loss to caricature' (George, English Political Caricature, 1.174)" Oxford DNB). Some library records note the author as Thomas Bridges alone, or with Francis Grose. It was once thought by some that Grose was the author but subsequent scholars have firmly identified Thomas Bridges as the sole writer of the book. But the attribution to Grose may not have been wholly incorrect; we strongly suspect that Grose designed the etchings for the later expanded editions. He needed money and may have taken the job anonymously to protect his scholastic reputation. He certainly had the skill as a caricaturist, and the style here exhibited (particularly in the faces) is not dissimilar to examples of his work found in his Rules for Drawing Caricatures (1788). If further evidence is needed, Grose, a corpulent man who possessed no lack of self-deprecating wit concerning his girth, appears to have drawn nearly every fat man in these caricatures with his own visage. Stylistically as well as chronologically, he falls between Hogarth and Gillray.  While the etchings are possibly by Grose they are definitely based on drawings by George Moutard Woodward, whose twenty-three original ink and watercolor drawings for this series were sold by Sotheby's (London) on March 6, 1978. "Thomas Bridges (b. 1710?, d. in or after 1775), playwright and novelist, was a native of Hull, in which town his father was a physician of some repute. Thomas Bridges was a wine merchant, and a partner in the banking firm of Sell, Bridges, and Blunt, which failed in Hull in 1759. In 1762 Bridges produced, under the pseudonym of Caustic Barebones, A Travestie of Homer, in two volumes, which achieved some popularity for its spirited versification and pointed humour" (Oxford DNB). Bridges' only novel was The Adventures of a Bank-Note, published in 1770. Gordon, British Caricature, BC-1; Lowndes, The Bibliographers Manual of English Literature, volume II, p. 1101. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 04268

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: BRIDGES, Thomas Color-Plate Books History Nineteenth-Century Literature

ZAEHNSDORF, binders; THOMSON, Hugh; GASKELL, Mrs. [Elizabeth]

Cranford

London: Macmillan and Co. 1895. In a Fine 1897 'Exhibition' Binding by Zaehnsdorf [ZAEHNSDORF, binders]. THOMSON, Hugh, illustrator. GASKELL, Mrs. [Elizabeth]. Cranford. With a preface by Anne Thackeray Ritchie and illustrations by Hugh Thomson. London: Macmillan and Co. 1895. Early reprint of the 1891 first Thomson illustrated edition. Octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 191 x 127 mm.). Frontispiece, xxx, 297, [1] pp. With 110 black and white illustrations in the text. Occasional foxing or staining especially on pp. 16/17; 104/105; 144/145, and 270/271. A fine 'Exhibition' binding by Zaehnsdorf, executed in 1897 (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in). Full crimson crushed levant morocco, covers bordered in gilt and decoratively tooled in gilt and pointille in an elaborate floral design, front cover lettered in gilt. Spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt ruled board edges,wide and elaborate gilt decorated turn-ins, ochre silk liners and end-leaves, top edge gilt, others uncut. The rear liner has the Zaehnsdorf 'Exhibition' stamp in gilt. Joints expertly and almost invisibly repaired, one corner a little bumped, still a very early and fine example of a Zaehnsdorf 'Exhibition' binding, housed in a red morocco edged, felt-lined, red cloth slipcase. Cranford, which originally appeared as a serial in Charles Dickens' magazine, Household Words, 1851-53, and saw its first publication in book form in 1853, is "a series of linked sketches of life among the ladies of a quiet country village in the 1830s..The greatest charm of Cranford, which has kept it unfailingly popular, is its amused but loving portrait of the old-fashioned customs and 'elegant economy' of a delicately observed group of middle-aged figures in a landscape" (Oxford Companion to English Literature). Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), a "strong and independent-minded woman" (The Feminist Companion to Literature), was an important proto-Feminist writer who often tackled unorthodox subjects in her novels. Cranford, for example, concerns a community of spinsters who glory in their freedom from male interference. Mrs. Gaskell was "'the most popular, with small question, the most powerful and finished female novelist of an epoch singularly rich in female novelists'" (Enclyclopedia of British Women Writers, p. 264, citing Mrs. Gaskell's obituary in The Athenaeum). "Critical awareness of Gaskell as a social historian is now more balanced by awareness of her innovativeness and artistic development as a novelist. While scholars continue to debate the precise nature of her talent, they also reaffirm the singular attractiveness of her best works" (ibid) of which Cranford is one. Hugh Thomson (1860-1920) was born in Kingsgate Street, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, the eldest child of John and Catherine Thomson. Thomson was educated in the model school in Coleraine. At age fourteen he started working at the local linen industry but three years later he entered the employment of Marcus Ward & Co. colour printers and publishers in Belfast where his talent for drawing was encouraged by John Vinycomb, head of the art department. He married Jessie Naismith Miller in 1884 and moved to London, where he took up employment with Macmillan & Co. on the English Illustrated Magazine, joining some of the most distinguished writers and illustrators of the day. Thomson provided scenes of Covent Garden and Regency Bath and the illustrations for the Addison and Steele Spectator papers Days with Sir Roger de Coverley (1886-7). Thompson's style reflected the nostalgia of the time, his fine line drawing of rural characters and gentle countrified society appealing to the imagination of the public. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 04214

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: THOMSON, Hugh GASKELL, Mrs. [Elizabeth] Illustrated Books Fine Bindings Nineteenth-Century Literature

ZAEHNSDORF, binders; SHAKESPEARE, William

Sonnets of William Shakespeare, the

London: George Bell and Sons, 1899. An Exhibition Binding By Zaehnsdorf [ZAEHNSDORF, binders]. SHAKESPEARE, William. The Sonnets of William Shakespeare. London: George Bell and Sons, 1899. Octavo (6 1/4 x 4 1/2 in; 159 x 122 mm). [154] pp. Printed by the Chiswick Press. Borders and initials by Christopher Dean. Contemporary exhibition binding by Zaehnsdorf (stamp-signed to front free endpaper, with exhibition blindstamp on rear paste-down endpaper) of full black crushed morocco with repeating pattern of gilt WS initials within laurels, and gilt tooled roses, rosettes, and closed and open dots, the design reiterated on spine. Gilt-rolled edges. Turn-ins with gilt roses and stems. Blue silk endleaves. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Expert and almost invisible restoration to spine tips, gilt on spine a little dull. An exceptional Zaehnsdorf Exhibition binding. "There are few firms of craft bookbinders that can claim an existence of longer than one hundred years. One which can is Zaehnsdorf Limited, founded in 1842 by Joseph Zaehnsdorf. It remained under the direct control of three successive generations of the Zaehnsdorf family..Bindings produced by the firm of Zaehnsdorf are still admired today the excellence of craftsmanship which they display" (Broomhead, The Zaehnsdorfs (1842-1947): Craft Bookbinders, p. 11). The Chiswick Press was founded by Charles Whittingham I (1767-1840) in 1811. The management of the Press was taken over in 1840 by the founder's nephew Charles Whittingham II (1795-1876). The name was first used in 1811, and the Press continued to operate until 1962. Charles Whittingham I gained notoriety for his popularly priced classics, but the Chiswick Press became very influential in English printing and typography under Charles Whittingham II who, most notably, published some of the early designs of William Morris. The Chiswick Press deserves conspicuous credit for the reintroduction of quality printing into the trade in England when in 1844 it produced The Diary of Lady Willoughby (1844-47) set in the reign of Charles l. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 02347

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: SHAKESPEARE, William Fine Bindings Seventeenth-Century Literature Shakespeariana

ZANGWILL, Israel

Without Prejudice

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896. 'A Vision of the Burden of Man' ZANGWILL, Israel. Without Prejudice. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1896. First edition. Octavo ( 7 1/2 x 5 1/8 inches; 191 x 130 mm.). [xvi], 384 pp. Publisher's blue cloth, front cover and spine lettered in gilt. A fine copy. Israel Zangwill (1864-1926), Jewish author and political activist, was passionate about campaigning for the oppressed. Many of his works address women's suffrage, pacifism, Zionism, and Jewish emancipation. He was a strong believer of assimilitation and is best known for his influencial novel Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People (1892) which was later released as a play titled The Melting Pot (1908). Zangwill is credited with coining the term "melting pot" to describe the fusion of various cultures and ethnicities. The present work is a rare volume of literary essays and travel accounts. Most of the selections were originally printed in the "Pall Mall Magazine. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 05480

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Nineteenth-Century Literature Judaica