Lovely Victorian edition in pictorial cloth of this popular comedic poem, executed in reverse order — caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson drew the illustrations before William Combe wrote the text.
Very good plus.
Price: $750.00
Originally serialized as "The Schoolmaster's Tour" in the pages of THE POETICAL MAGAZINE, the humorous DOCTOR SYNTAX trilogy was wildly popular in the 19th century. This lengthy poem satirized the work of William Gilpin — a schoolmaster by trade and one of the founders of the Picturesque aesthetic ideal — as well as Grand Tour literature in general.
In an interesting reversal of literary order, famed British caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson was commissioned to create the illustrations, after which William Combe provided verse. The British public were smitten with the story, and the hapless Doctor inspired everything from porcelain figurines to the name of a medal-winning British racehorse. This edition, in its attractive pictorial cloth binding, is a charming example of the comedy phenomenon.
London: George Routledge and Sons, [circa 1860]. Three volumes titled: The First Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of the Picturesque; The Second Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of Consolation; The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax in Search of a Wife. Three volumes, 10'' x 6'' each. Original publisher's red pictorial cloth boards. Each volume with hand-colored frontispiece, vols 1 and 3 with color pictorial title pages; vol. 1 with 29 hand-colored plates, vols 2 and 3 with 23 each, in total complete with 75 plates as issued. [4], 272; [4], 278; [4], 280 pages. Bindings with bumping to corners and spine ends, a touch of rubbing; spines lightly toned. Leaves with scattered faint soil, largely confined to margins; several hinges a bit cracked but sound. Plates bright.
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