[Rarebooks] fa: THOMAS ROWLANDSON - MASQUERONIANS of 1800 (COMPLETE SET of 18 Colored Caricatures on 6 Sheets)

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, November 17. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/m3lhhlv

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

Thomas Rowlandson: Masqueronians [a.k.a. "Symbolical Groupings"]. London: R[udolph] Ackermann at the Repository of the Arts, 1800. Eighteen caricatures on six sheets, etchings, printed in brown ink with original hand-coloring; carefully tipped into (and easily removed from) uniform mattes. Overall size: 610 x 510 mm (24" x 20"); sheet size: c.445 x 340 mm (17 1/2" x 13 1/2"); plate mark size: c.375 x 270 mm (14 3/4" x 10 3/4").

No. 1: Philosophorum, Fancynina, Epicurum — No. 2: Penserosa, Tally!Ho!Rum! (our personal favorite), Allegora — No. 3: Physicorum, Nunina, Publicorum — No. 4: Funeralorum, Virginia, Hazardorum — No. 5: Battleorum, Billingsgatina, Trafficorum — No. 6: Barberorum, Flora, Lawyerorum. (Note: At the time time the photos were taken, only the first two sheets had been removed from their protective plastic, which explains the glare and waviness in the photos of some of the others. Since then, all the sheets have been examined out of the plastic.) CONDITION: These are authentic, original, period etchings, NOT reproductions. Some minor toning and light creases, a few occasional small spots; traces of old/period adhesive on the reverse of the sheets; the first sheet with a long but unobtrusive horizontal hairline crease which seems to have been a production flaw; three or four short closed (and apparently professionally repaired) tears in the margins, the tear on sheet no. 5 just entering the plate mark; otherwise all are quite clean, with crisp impressions, vivid coloring, and wide untrimmed margins.

A remarkably well-preserved set of Rowlandson's delightful caricatures of Regency-era "types," rarely encountered individually, exponentially uncommon as a complete set. (Coincidentally, the only other set we've ever seen offered was sold just last week at Dreweatts & Bloomsbury, as lot 265 in their Nov. 7 sale of the Library of a Gentleman — and judging by their catalog description, our set would seem to be in better condition: theirs had been trimmed to, or even within, the platemarks).

From Joseph Grego's Rowlandson the Caricaturist (1880; vol. II): "On August 15, 1800, Mr. Ackermann issued at his Repository of Arts, 101 Strand, a series of six plates designed and etched in Rowlandson's boldest and most spirited style; and finished and coloured in almost exact imitation of the original drawings. Each plate contains three large distinct heads, festooned with attributes peculiar to the respective designs. It is not very clear whether these symbolical groupings, which are superior in execution to the average of Rowlandson's published works, were devised to be cut up for scrap-books, screens, or wall borderings; but they have become remarkably scarce since the date of publication, and sets of these typical heads (eighteen in all) are rarely met with at the present date."