Eccentric Tales
London: James Robins and Co., 1827. Item #06009
“Expressive and Intelligible Words Fell from the Lips of the Inebriated Breeches-Maker”
George Cruikshank's Eccentric Tales
With Three Signed Original Drawings, Including a Preliminary Design for One of the Published Plates
CRUIKSHANK, George, illustrator. KOSEWITZ, W.F. von. [FORRESTER, Charles Robert, translator]. Eccentric Tales. From the German of W.F. Von Kosewitz, with Illustrations by George Cruikshank, From Sketches by Alfred Crowquill. London: James Robins and Co., 1827.
First edition in book form, originally issued in four parts, each containing five plates.
Octavo (8 7/8 x 5 1/4 inches; 227 x 135 mm.). 181, [1] pp. Twenty hand-colored etched plates by George Cruikshank after sketches by Alfred Crowquill, bound together as a suite at the front. Quires L and M transposed by the binder.
Original quarter claret cloth over drab boards, original printed paper spine label. Untrimmed and partially unopened. Occasional light foxing; some expected wear to extremities; spine label rubbed with slight loss. An excellent copy, remarkably preserved in its original binding. Housed in a red cloth clamshell case.
Together with three signed original pencil and watercolor drawings by George Cruikshank associated with Eccentric Tales, including the preliminary drawing for one of the published illustrations and two apparently unpublished designs.
I. “The Inebriated Breeches-Maker”
The original pencil and watercolor drawing, signed “Geo. Cruikshank” at lower left. [London, ca. 1827]. Image size: 4 1/8 x 3 7/8 inches; 114 x 97 mm.
Mounted, framed and glazed. The original preliminary design for the illustration accompanying Chapter V, “A Speech,” in the fourth tale, Karel Pietrehl. The scene depicts the magnificently intoxicated breeches-maker attempting to address his companions, pipe in one hand and empty jug in the other: “With all the grace of a dancing bear he extended his short thick arms…” before the unfortunate orator manages little more than Gentlemen” - (hiccup) - “the honor” - (hiccup) - “thank you.”
A particularly appealing example of Cruikshank's working method, preserving the artist's spontaneous preliminary conception for an illustration subsequently translated into the finished etched plate.
II. A Royal Audience
Original pencil and watercolor drawing, signed “Geo. Cruikshank” at lower center. [London, ca. 1827].
Image size: 4 1/16 x 4 6/8 inches; 112 x 120 mm. Mounted, framed and glazed.
A lively court scene showing a diminutive monarch enthroned beneath a canopy and surrounded by courtiers and petitioners. The composition does not correspond to any of the twenty published plates in Eccentric Tales and would therefore appear to represent an unused or unpublished design associated with the work.
III. Three Figures in Conversation
Original pencil and watercolor drawing, signed “Geo. Cruikshank” at lower left. [London, ca. 1827].
Image size: 3 15/16 x 3 1/8 inches; 100 x 80 mm. Mounted, framed and glazed.
An intimate interior scene depicting three figures gathered in conversation. Like the preceding drawing, the composition does not correspond to any of the published plates and appears to be an unused or unpublished design.
An exceptional Cruikshank ensemble: an excellent copy of one of his most entertaining early color-plate books in its original binding, accompanied by three signed original drawings, one demonstrably preparatory for a published illustration and two apparently unpublished.
Published in 1827, Eccentric Tales belongs to the extraordinarily fertile period immediately preceding Cruikshank's great collaborations with Charles Dickens. The title page explicitly credits the illustrations to George Cruikshank “from sketches by Alfred Crowquill,” an unusual collaboration between two important figures in nineteenth-century comic illustration.
Charles Robert FORRESTER (1803–1850) was responsible for the English text, while his brother Alfred Henry FORRESTER (1804–1872), better known as Alfred CROWQUILL, supplied the sketches from which Cruikshank produced the published illustrations.
Cohn 456.
Price: $3,500.00