[Rarebooks] fa: THE HERMIT IN LONDON or SKETCHES OF ENGLISH MANNERS 1819 - First Ed./5 vols.

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, October 8. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/y9yuf8gx

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

[Felix M'Donough:] The Hermit in London; or, Sketches of English Manners. London: Henry Colburn, 1819-20. FIRST EDITION. Five volumes, small 8vo (17 cm), in early half roan sheepskin and marbled boards, marbled endpapers and page edges.

A satirical survey of life in Regency London as narrated by a cantankerous reactionary. Includes amusing, largely disapproving observations on such diverse subjects as: Hyde Park on a Sunday; On the Rage for Imitating Foreign Manners; The Waterloo Panorama; Fashion in Dress; Female Gamblers; Fortune Hunters; The Chien Munito and the Learned Pig; Confusion of Persons and Ranks in a Scene at the Opera; Fancy Balls, Electioneering, etc., etc. A fascinating glimpse at the manners and mores of the time. The work was popular enough to encourage the author to cast his disapproving eye on other locales in several sequels: The Hermit in the Country (1820), The Hermit Abroad (1823), and The Hermit in Edinburgh (1824).

Ex-library, but not obnoxiously so: tidy bookplates and card envelopes on the front and rear paste-downs, ink stamps and call numbers on the versos of the title-pages, but the contents are otherwise very good, with occasional traces of spotting and soiling. Spines sunned/darkened, joints rubbed with a few joints cracked at the extremities, some wear to the edges and extremities. In all, a solid set.