Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller

The Life of George Cruikshank in Two Epochs. 2 Vols. [EXTRA ILLUSTRATED]

Jerrold, Blanchard

London: Chatto and Windus, 1882. First edition. Hardcover. Octavo. xvi, 284pp., 40 ill., viii, 280pp., 42 ill., 87 additional engravings bound in. Original three-quarter vellum over marble boards with gilt ruling and tooling, and gilt lettering on red and black leather labels of spines. Gilt top edges. Marbled endpapers. Frontispiece lithographs. Illustrated title pages. Blue ribbon markers.

"If his indefatigable industry failed to bring him the fortune which fashion now lavishes upon his inferiors, he was consoled by the fervid admiration of such critics as Thackeray and Ruskin, and other distinguished contemporaries, whose opinion on his genius I have freely given, as the best aids to a thorough estimate of him as an artist." (Jerrold). Biography of the famous British caricaturist and book illustrator. Cruikshank (1792–1878) was the most prolific caricaturist and illustrator of his time, illustrating close to nine hundred books, among them books for his friend Charles Dickens. Profusely illustrated with eighty-two illustrations, in-text and on plates. Among the additional eighty-seven plates bound in, two folding engravings are designated "Designed, Etched & Published by George Cruikshank" printed below the motif, another is published by Fisher, Son & Co., and one folding engraving by Tilt & Bogue. Altogether seven of the additional engravings are folding plates.

Bindings with light wear along edges, small closed tear at foredge of back cover and three small chips at spine of volume II, vellum lightly rubbed. Volume I starting after half-title. Two plates with brown transparent tape repairs, one facing page 113, here the folded lower part loose but present, the other following page 266 of volume one, and two plates facing page 32 in volume two. Bindings in overall good+, interior in very good condition. g+ to vg. Item #44308

Price: $500.00