Plates as in "Eccentric Tales" from the German of W. F. Von Kosewitz, with Illustrations by Geo. Cruikshank, from (Sketches) by Alfred Crowquill (London: James Robins & Co. 1827)
None Stated: None stated, nd. Hardcover. Dark green 3/4 leather with complementary medium green cloth. Gilt edging, lettering and 3 bands (not raised). AEG. No text. 20 pp, each with an individual bw etching / engraving. With bookplates by prominent people. The title page is hand-lettered, and there is no printed publication information. This is a unique and important item of Cruikshankiana. Ex-library copy with minimally offensive marks, given the importance of each one. Ex-library copy with usual marks. Plates mostly clean, but a few have minor-to-mild foxing. Two plates have perforation stamps on lower margins, not affecting plate images. Front end pages (ffep detached and laid in) contain 2 library plates, 2 personal book plates, and one additional plate. Some wear to spine, mostly at head/tail, and to leather corners, but nothing terribly offensive. Ex-lib. sticker on back cover. Item #149584
This volume contains ONLY the 20 engravings used as illustrations for Eccentric Tales. The original sketches were by Alfred Henry Forrester (under the pseudonym of Alfred Crowquill). The actual book illustrations then were done by George Cruikshank. This particular book contains Forrester's personal book plate. Another book plate is of Albert M. Cohn who wrote a catalogue raisonne of Cruikshank's works in 1924 (a small label on the fep makes reference to this catalogue, #471). And a third book plate is of William Hartman Woodin, Secretary of the Treasury under Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933. The final bookplate present is that of the Brooklyn Public Library. Plates No. 8 and 15 have remarques. The Cruikshank illustrations in Eccentric Tales were, apparently, hand-tinted, but these images are in b/w with no tinting, and appear to be etching proofs for the final illustrations. Both Crowquill's and Cruikshank's names appear under each etching. Delightful and humorous illustrations done in great detail. Unique and rare.
Price: $1,575.00