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.
Original Jests
London: Cowie and Strange, 1827. Item #05588
The William Hartmann Woodin Copy
Together with an India Paper Proof Before Letters, of the George Cruikshank Frontispiece
CRUIKSHANK, George, illustrator. HARCOURT , John. John Harcourt's Original Jests. London: Cowie and Strange, 1827.
First edition adorned with an engraved frontispiece by George Cruikshank and a woodcut vignette of the same on the cover. Together with an India paper proof, before letters, tipped onto a larger sheet with a blue outline border.
Twelvemo Chapbook (5 3/8 x 3 1/2 inches; 138 x 89 mm.). Etched frontispiece, [1]-54 pp.
Publisher's stiff paper printed wrappers. Spine worn, covers loose, front cover with some rubbing to print. Housed in a blue buckram clamshell case with red morocco labels lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Bookplate of William Hartmann Woodin on inside top cover of case
A fun little chapbook of jests, the cover bears the title: "The Shilling Comic Annual a Collection of All the Short, Good Things, which Have, Might, Could, Would, Should or Ought to Have Been Said by the Wise & Witty of All Ages and Countries for the Expansion of the Understanding… Published by William Cruikshank".
Cohn, 383; Not in Patten.
Price: $450.00