The Life of George Cruikshank; In Two Epochs

New York: Scribner and Welford, 1882. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 2 vol. Crown 8vo. [7], viii-xvi, 284, [2]; [5], vi-viii, 280, [2] pp. Contemporary smooth calf with gilt rules on each board, gilt decorations to the boards' edges and turn-ins, spines in six compartments, each with a red and a green morocco label lettered in gilt; top edges gilt. Marbled endpapers and pastedowns. Bound by Zaehnsdorf. With the half-titles. Extra-illustrated edition. Volume one illustrated with a frontispiece, an engraving on the title page, in-text vignettes, a facsimile of a bank note printed on blue paper, and 39 plates, eight of them in color; volume two illustrated with a frontispiece, an etching on the title page, in-text vignettes, and 41 or so plates, six of them in color. Volume one has a signed note dated August of 1850 from George Cruikshank tipped in. Cohn 358. Houfe 106-108. Marchmont 298. Ray 69-73. George Cruikshank began as a political cartoonist, but was launched to fame through illustrating Pierce Egan's Life in London with his brother. He is best-known as Charles Dickens' primary illustrator. His drawings are dramatically composed, and he is remembered as a master of the art of etching. Cruikshank's career was a prolific one, as he illustrated numerous novels and published a few compendiums of his artwork. A nicely-bound biography of one of the greatest illustrators of nineteenth-century literature. A Very Good or better example with a small abrasion to the front board of volume two and very minor rubbing to the extremities; the internal contents show minor foxing.