AN ALPHABET. Allegorical & Alliterative & Amusing. L. J. H. Artistical Arranger. Appreciable at All Ages.

FIRST EDITION. Oblong 4to, pp. [28], entirely lithographic, title printed in red; a few minor marginal tears, lightly spotted or browned in places; original publisher's red half morocco over printed boards, front cover repeating title; extremities worn and spine rebacked.


A rare and well drawn nonsense alphabet ranging from Alderman Artichoke to Zedekiah Zigzag.

The verso of the title-page reads as follows: 'A Beautiful Collection, Delightfully Etched, Finely Grouped, Highly Imaginative, Jestingly Knavish, Ludicrously Mischievous, Notably Odd, Peculiarly Queer, Recreative, Sensational, Tittering, Unquestionably Volatile, Whimsically XYZite'. Louisa's naive illustrated work clearly forms part of the nineteenth century enthusiasm for nonsense literature that was was pushed into prominence by Lear and Carroll.

From a copy of this work held at Toronto that is inscribed 'By L. J. Hill, My great aunt' we have been able to identify the author as Louisa Jane Hill (1832-1899) the eldest child of Sir George Fitzgerald Hill, 3rd Baronet of Brook Hall in Londonderry; something confirmed by her initials being enclosed within a garter on the title-page and thereby informing the purchaser of her status. Alas we really know nothing of her, although the vicissitudes of the family meant that money was tight. Together with her widowed mother, and two unmarried sisters, they lived out their life in genteel poverty at Dover and later Brighton.

OCLC locates copies in Toronto, Cambridge, Princeton, the British Library and in the Dutch Royal Library.