I have been in the rare and antiquarian book business for over forty years; my family has been in the rare books business since 1876. Rare books are in my blood.
Lovers' Panorama, The
London: Hodgson & Co.,, 1835. Item #04524
Exceptionally Scarce Valentine Caricature by George and Robert Cruikshank
Obadiah "I do confess I long have loved thee, And hope thou hast conceived the like for me;"
Rachael "Yea, if thou wishest to take me to wife, I'll be thy partner thro' this weary life;"
CRUIKSHANK, George & Robert. The Lovers' Panorama; or Cupid's Vagaries on St. Valentine's Day. London: Hodgson & Co., [1835].
Second Issue with changed title, otherwise identical. No date was assigned to either issue.
Sixteenmo (5 3/4 x 3 3/8 inches; 146 x 86 mm.). 24 pp. Hand colored engraved vignette title-page and eleven hand colored vignettes in the text. Title-page and first two leaves slightly soiled at fore-margin, otherwise near fine.
Nineteenth century burgundy paper wrappers, marbled endpapers over the original? plain wrappers. Housed in a fleece-lined, three-quarter red morocco clamshell case.
According to Cohn the hand-colored engraving on the title-page is by George and Robert Cruikshank, the last two are by George Cruikshank, and the other nine are by Robert Cruikshank.
OCLC locates only three copies of this issue in libraries and institutions worldwide: Yale University Library (CT., USA), McGill University Library (Montreal, Canada), and the British Library (London, UK).
OCLC locates just two copies of the first issue: Trinity College Library (CT, USA), and Harvard University (MA, USA).
The only copy of the first issue that we have been able to trace was the Salomons copy which appeared at auction in 1991.
"This item is a second issue of "Cupid's Vagaries" (No. 216) with identical plates. It should also be noted that the price has been raised from sixpence to a shilling." (Cohn, p.151).
It was first published [1822] as "Cupid's Vagaries, or the Lover's Panorama on St. Valentine's Day. (see also No. 510, "The Lovers' Panorama," which is the same work, another edition.). (Cohn, p. 72).
We have never seen this title before - in either first or second issue… and there was no example in the famous Cruikshank collection of Dr. Fluhmann. (Benoit Forgeot catalog 2009).
Cohn, 510.
Price: $3,500.00