Sold by David Brass Rare Books, Inc., Calabasas, CA, U.S.A.
Association Member:
AbeBooks Seller since 1 February 2007
Seller rating 5 out of 5 stars
One of the Rarest of all the Thomas Rowlandson Items "These Delicate Engravings show Various Fictional Characters taken from Various Ranks of Society" ROWLANDSON, Thomas, illustrator. [Twelfth Night Characters, in Twenty-Four Figures]. London: [Thomas Tegg, Cheapside, 1811]. Twelvemo (5 1/8 x 3 1/4 inches; 131 x 82 mm.). The complete set of 24 hand-colored etchings, each titled at head and with a 4-line verse below. no imprint, cut and mounted on blank leaves with ruled borders, paper guards, minimal offsetting to guards. Bound ca. 1890 by Rivière (stamp-signed on verso of front free end-paper). Full red morocco covers elaborately paneled in gilt, spine with five raised bands elaborately decorated and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt-ruled board edges,decorative gilt turn-ins, marbled end-papers, all edges gilt. With the engraved bookplate of celebrated book collector, William Crampton** on front paste-down. Very fine. An extremely rare Rowlandson item. Originally published on two sheets, 12 images per sheet without title or preliminaries. These delicate engravings show various fictional characters taken from various ranks of society. The verse below each plate reveals something of the supposed character visualized from the imaginary name and title. The twenty-four small figures embody the roles of King, Queen, Lady Lydia Blaze, Miss Busy, Lady Careless, Cap.n Dash, Jemmy Dazzle, Giles Diligent, Dolly Diligent, Lord Flutter, Lady Flutter, Mrs. Friendly, Miss Gadabout, Major Matchless, Mr. Nimble, Lady Peaceable, Priscilla Prudent, Sir Peter Puff, Lady Racket, Sir Simon Solid, Miss Sparkle, Sir Timothy Spruce, Sir Charles Worthy, Lord Zealous. Once cut into cards, Regency era party-goers could draw these figures out of a hat, then perform the characters-a host might also send such cards to guests in advance to allow them to prepare suitable costumes. Festivities on January 6th, which is also known as Three Kings' Day or the Feast of the Epiphany, concluded the Christmas season and often included games that disrupted the normal social order; a servant, for example, might be elevated to monarch of the feast. Specially decorated cakes were enjoyed and examples appear here next to the king and queen. Excessively rare: OCLC/KVK locate just one example in libraries and institutions worldwide: Yale Univ. Lib. (CT,US). This present example is most likely the one that appeared in the 1929 Sotheby's, London auction of the Library of Edward Arnold. "Rowlandson's figures have no obvious connection to Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." Scholars do, however, posit that that play may have first been performed at the end of the Christmas season, and note how the the dramatic shifts of fortune, costume and gender that occur in the plot echo Tudor Twelfth Night revels." (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.) **William Crampton (1843-1910) was a wealthy Sheffield businessman in 19th century England. In 1867 he and his brother Willoughby (1845-1897) established a business called Crampton Brothers, a tool manufacturing firm, which dissolved in July 1891. William Crampton carried on the firm under the same name, and later his son William James took it over. In 1882 the brothers registered a design for an adjustable nut wrench with the British patents office. The firm was in good standing locally and appears to have been profitable, which made Crampton wealthy and allowed him to collect and amass books and bindings over a long period of time. There were four auctions of Crampton's books: 1899, 1900, 1901 and 1904, three local and one in London. The collection consisted of illuminated manuscripts, breviaries, printed books of hours, extra-illustrated books, early printed books, books printed on vellum, Vale Press books, and bindings by T. J. Cobden-Sanderson, Rivière, Zaehnsdorf, Guild of Women Binders, Bedford, among others. There were also many memoirs and sporting books and much literature and first editions (for example, of the Brownings, Thacker.
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