[Rarebooks] fa: THE POETICAL MAGAZINE 1809-11 - First appearance of ROWLANDSON'S DR. SYNTAX

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with other 18th-19th century illustrated works,  
auctions ending Sunday, Oct. 10. Details and images can be found at  
the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/yhk74ma
OR
http://shop.ebay.com/arch_in_la/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p4340

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

[William Combe and Thomas Rowlandson:] The Poetical Magazine. London:  
R. Ackermann, 1809-11. FIRST EDITION. Four volumes, 8vos (22 x 14 cm;  
8.5 x 5.5 in) in full period diced calf, gilt-tooled spines and  
morocco spine labels, all page edges marbled; iv+ 404+[4]; 372+[4];  
364+[4]; 342+[3] pp.; with engraved title-pages and aquatint  
engravings. Abbey Life, 214; Tooley 421.

Complete with 52 aquatint engravings, all but 2 hand-colored, as  
called for. Issued by Rudolph Ackermann, the "presiding genius" of  
early nineteenth-century color plate books, as a catch-all for the  
overflow of poetic effusions submitted to his Repository of Arts, the  
Poetical Magazine is chiefly remarkable as the first appearance of  
DOCTOR SYNTAX, whose travels, as described by William Combe and  
illustrated by Thomas Rowlandson, ran through the whole of the  
publication under the title, "The Schoolmaster’s Tour." This was later  
published in volume form as Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque  
and proved so popular that it was followed by two sequels (...in  
Search of Consolation and ...in Search of Wife) as well as countless  
spin-offs and imitations. Only here in the Poetical Magazine, however,  
do Rowlandson's oft-reprinted plates appear in their first state; he  
made changes to several of them before their appearance in book form.

Rowlandson also supplies a number of delightful images for subjects  
other than Syntax (e.g., to accompany the poems "Edwin and Matilda"  
and "The Mansion-House Monitor"). Additionally, there are numerous  
plates by other artists, handsomely engraved and exquisitely colored.  
While much of the poetry is amateurish at best, as might be expected  
from a catch-all collection, it nevertheless provides a fascinating  
glimpse of life, love, politics and culture in late-Georgian England.