[Rarebooks] fa: THE ECCENTRIC MIRROR - Extraordinary MALE & FEMALE CHARACTERS - 4 vols./Plates 1806

[ArCh]

Listed now, auctions ending MONDAY, April 22. Images and more details can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/y3tbxvzl

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA


G. H. Wilson: The Eccentric Mirror: Reflecting a Faithful and Interesting Delineation of Male and Female Characters, Ancient and Modern, who have been particularly distinguished by Extraordinary Qualifications, Talents, and Propensities, Natural or Acquired, comprehending singular Instances of Longevity, Conformation, Bulk, Stature, Power of Mind and Body, Wonderful Exploits, Adventures, Habits, Propensities, Enterprising Pursuits, &c &c. &c. With a faithful Narration of Every Instance of Singularity, manifest in the Lives and Conduct of Characters who have rendered themselves eminently conspicuous by their Eccentricities. The whole exhibiting an interesting and wonderful display of human action in the Grand Theatre of the World. London: Printed for James Cundee, 1806-07. First collected edition. Four volumes, small 8vo (17.5 cm), in full period tree calf. With four extra engraved title-pages and 39 engraved plates (including the frontispieces); publisher's adverts in vols. I and IV.

Bindings a bit rubbed with wear and bumping to the extremities, front board of vol. I detached, several other joints cracked but secure; title-page of vol. I trimmed close at the bottom (clipping the date), one frontispiece with small tear and minor surface loss at fore-edge, one plate with repaired tear, one text leaf protruding slightly from the text block with concomitant edge-wear; spotting to some of the plates, browning to five text leaves, the rest of the text with light intermittent toning, occasional light spots and touches of soiling, else generally quite clean and sound. Front paste-down of vol. I with the armorial bookplate of Stirling of Keir.

A lively compendium of biographical sketches of rogues, freaks, eccentrics, courtesans, desperadoes, unlikely heroes, and other notable characters, including the likes of the Chevalier d'Éon (the cross-dressing spy who is here identified as a woman, "Charlotte d'Eon du Beaumont"); Hannah Snell (another cross-dresser, though in the opposite direction); Nell Gwynn; Richard "Beau" Nash; Jane Shore; Bampfyld Moore Carew; the Earl of Rochester; Thomas Blood; Byrne, the Irish Giant; the "Savage of Aveyron"; Louisa, or the "Lady of the Hay-Stack"; etc., etc.