CRUIKSHANK’S THREE COURSES AND A DESSERT, HANDSOMELY BOUND

(CRUIKSHANK, George) [CLARKE, William]. Three Courses and a Dessert. The Decorations by George Cruikshank. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1852. Octavo, early 20th-century three-quarter brown calf, raised bands, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, green morocco spine labels, marbled boards and endpapers, top edge gilt. $300.

Fifth edition of this collection of humorous short stories, “civil as an orange, or sourer than a lemon,” with 50 amusing full-page and in-text wood-engravings by George Cruikshank, handsomely bound by Collet.

First published in 1830, Clarke’s humorous vignettes of English and Irish country life contains 50 wood-engravings by George Cruikshank. “Cruikshank succeeded his father and James Gillray as England’s chief artist in comic ephemerae of all sorts. He could toss off city types and scenes from memory… and possessed an enthusiastic middle-class following. Cruikshank was at his best as an interpretive illustrator in books that permitted him to exercise his talent for comic exaggeration without distorting the author’s intent” (Hodnett, 114). See Cohn 144.

A near-fine copy, with only light rubbing to marbled boards and archival tape repair to corner of endpaper. Handsomely bound.