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1303. The Tours of Doctor Syntax. Volume I, in search of the Picturesque. Volume II, in search of Consolation. Volume III, in search of a Wife. Three Volumes complete.

Author : William Combe
Illustrator : Thomas Rowlandson
Publisher: Ackermann, London.

Publication Date: 1819, 1820, 1821

Thomas Rowlandson was born in 1757 in the City of London. He studied art from the age of 16, first in Paris and then at the Royal Academy in London, where he exhibited between 1775 and 1787. During the 1780's he developed his skill in caricature and book illustration, working on the novels of Smollet and Fielding. From 1798 he was employed by the publisher Rudolph Ackermann, depicting the Miseries of Human Life (1808) and adding figures to Pugin's architectural settings for The Microcosm of London (1808-11). He collaborated with Dr William Combe on the tours of Doctor Syntax (1812-1821). He produced many drawings after the Old Masters, and developed a landscape style of painting similar to that of Thomas Gainsborough. He died in 1827.

8vo.

Contents : Vol I the eighth edition, Advertisement, Directions to the Binder, 5pp, Tour, 276pp, 30 full page hand coloured plates as list, 2 vignettes. Vol II first edition, Introduction, Directions to the Binder, 3pp, Tour, 277pp, 24 full page hand coloured plates as per list, one vignette. Vol III first edition, Preface, Directions to the Binder, 2pp, Tour, 279pp, 24 full page hand coloured plates as per list, two vignettes.

Binding : by Rivière, half red leather with marbled boards, elaborately gilt and tooled to the spine, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt.

Condition : sporadic minor foxing, plates clean and bright, repair to the top of the hinge to front cover of volume II. All in all, a good set, with some of the best observations of life in Georgian England to be had anywhere. Bookplate of Herbert Salisbury Squance, (1867-1922), one time right hand batsman for Durham County Cricket Club, in each of the three volumes (one partly removed).

Price : £450