Schwerdt Copy
The National Sports of Great Britain, … Fifty Engravings, with Descriptions.
London: Thomas M'Lean, 1825.
Price: $6,000.00
About the item
Alken, Henry. First edition in the royal octavo format with new plates. 50 hand-colored aquatint plates by H. Alken. Printed title, preface, leaf with printed list of plates; each plate with letterpress text leaf. 1 vols. 8vo. Schwerdt Copy. Full olive levant gilt by Riviere and Son, gilt turn-ins, a.e.g. Bookplate of William Morley Pegge; Schwerdt bookplate. Some light traces of foxing in first and last leaves, not affecting plates. Fine copy. Cloth folding box. Tooley 43; Siltzer p. 72; Schwerdt I, pp. 19-20 (this copy); Podeschi 121 (folio ed.).
Item #304214
“This book differs from the folio edition … Alken himself seems ot have drawn in colours and engraved the plates, which like most of his book illustrations are particularly pleasing on account of their small size” (Schwerdt).
The “Fox Hunters Toast” plate (no. 19) is bound as a frontispiece; the original printed label is laid down on a preliminary leaf: Alken’s Sports of Great Britain. Fifty coloured plates. Price Three Guineas.
A classic Alken title with excellent provenance.
