The Life Of A Sportsman by Alken, Henry (Illustrator) & Charles James Apperley (Nimrod) - 1842

London: Rudolph Ackermann, 1842. 8vo. (9 1/4 x 5 7/8 inches). vi, [2], 402pp. 36 hand-colored aquatint plates after Henry Alken (including frontispiece, title, and 4 plates mounted on plate paper). Plate at page 348 in the first state. Full contemporary blue morocco by Zaensdorf, spine in six compartments with raised bands, decorated in gilt, all edges gilt, silk moire endpapers. First edition, first issue. Apperley's work, with illustrations by Alken, is "considered by many to be the premier coloured plate sporting book in the 19th century" (Tooley). Born in Wales to an English family, Charles J. Apperley was a sportsman and well-known sports writer. From 1813 to 1819, he was the agent for his brother-in-law's estates and around 1822, he "began writing for the Sporting Magazine. From his boyhood his ruling passions had been hunting, horse-riding, and horse management...Apperley's expert knowledge and social status made him an invaluable recruit to the sporting press of the time, and he may even be… Read More

London, Rudolph Ackermann, Eclipse Sporting Gallery, 1842. . First edition, first issue; 8vo, viii, 402pp.; 10pp. ads at end, additional hand-coloured aquatint title, frontispiece and 34 plates, all by Alken, four of these plates on india and mounted on leaves with printed captions, original blue cloth, the spine and upper side stamped in gilt, the sides with scrolling border stamped in blind, edges gilt, yellow coated endpapers, rebacked preserving original worn spine, rubbed, pull-off morocco box, a very good clean copy. cp24 First edition, first issue, in the original cloth, 'considered by many to be the premier colour plate sporting book in the 19th century' (Tooley). Dixon 111: 'one of the finest of the books illustrated by Alken'; Mellon/Podeschi 167; Schwerdt I, p.36; Tooley 65.