2 volumes, 8vo (186 x 125 mm). Frontispieces. EXTRA ILLUSTRATED by the addition of approximately 170 portraits and plates (15 hand-colored, many folding), 66 woodcuts, 8 autograph letters, facsimiles of signatures. (Some light spotting.) 20th-century red crushed morocco sides gilt-decorated with facsimile signature, impish figures, and blind scrolls after Cruikshank, smooth spines gilt-letter and similarly decorated, top edge gilt, other uncut, stamp-signed by Nelly & Sons (some light rubbing).

 

FIRST EDITION. Cruikshank was one of Britain’s most prominent satirical illustrators, covering politicians, class, the monarchy, and everyday life. Autograph letters in this edition include examples by: Samuel Laman Blanchard, editor of George Cruikshank’s Omnibus in 1842; biographer John Forster, who revolved in the same circles as Cruikshank and Charles Dickens; Lord Houghton, who served as pall-bearers for Cruikshank’s funeral (p. 237); former Prime Minister of the U.K. William Ewart Gladstone, and others.