[Rarebooks] fa: REAL LIFE IN LONDON 1823 - 2 vols. w/ PLATES by Alken, Heath, Rowlandson &c.

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, September 20. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/ocjad4v

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

[Pierce Egan (imitation):] Real Life in London; or, The Rambles and Adventures of Bob Tallyho, Esq. and His Cousin the Hon. Tom. Dashall, through the Metropolis; Exhibiting a Living Picture of Fashionable Characters, Manners, and Amusements in High and Low Life. By An Amateur. Embellished and Illustrated with a Series of Coloured Prints, Designed and Engraved by Messrs. Heath, Alken, Dighton, Rowlandson, &c. London: Printed for Jones and Co., 1823. Two volumes, 8vo (21.5 cm), in recent half crimson morocco and marbled boards, all page edges gilt; x, 656 pp.; ix, [1], [3]-668 pp.; plus 34 hand-colored plates, including the frontispieces and pictorial title-pages (complete). Abbey, Life 280; Tooley 199.

A shameless imitation of Pierce Egan's hugely successful Life in London (1821), but well-executed in its own right and nearly surpassing its progenitor in popularity. An early edition, matching the points for Tooley's "later issue" of the first edition. Complete with all the plates, including the two not listed in the directions to the binder ("Tom & Bob Catching a Charley Napping" and "St. George's Day Presentation"). Uneven toning to the text leaves, mostly mild, but with more noticeable browning to some page-gatherings, presumably due to inferior paper quality; occasional offsetting to and from the plates; frontispiece of vol. I coming loose at the gutter; a few scattered small spots and stains; otherwise clean and sound and firmly bound in a pair of fresh, handsome, slightly rakish modern bindings. An attractive set. Engraved armorial bookplates of the earlier owner, department-store heir Rodman Wanamaker (1863-1928), have been laid down onto the new paste-downs.