Illustrations of the Five Senses

London: Grant & Griffith, 1852. The Five Senses as Depicted by "Phiz"

BROWNE, Hablot K. Illustrations of the Five Senses. By H.K. Browne. "Phiz". London: Grant & Griffith, 1852.

First edition. Oblong quarto (9 5/8 x 13 1/2 inches; 245 x 343 mm.). Five hand colored etched plates, all interleaved.
First plate with tiny piece (1/24 x 3/8 inch) missing from lower blank corner and fifth plate with tiny piece (1/2 x 3/8 inch) missing from lower blank corner.

Publisher's buff printed wrappers with "Price 5s. Plain" and "7. 6d. Colored", expertly rebacked. Chemised in a brown cloth wrapper housed in a quarter tan (truncated) morocco over blue cloth clamshell case, smooth spine with tan and black morocco labels lettered in gilt. A near fine example.

The plates depict comical urchins demonstrating the five senses, including the rare "Seeing" plate which depicts two young boys peering into a box-shaped peep-show at a fairground.

Note: Our copy has "Price 5s. Plain" and "7. 6d. Colored".

"While illustrations to Dickens are the principal work by 'Phiz', there also exists a considerable number of his coloured illustrations for books… "Illustrations of the Five Senses in 1852 was issued at 3s. 6d. plain, 5s. 6d. coloured, the five plates being etchings with a machine-ruled ground." (Hardie, p. 219).

Renowned for his illustrations for novels by Charles Dickens, Hablot Knight Browne [pseud. Phiz] (1815–1882) "remained prodigiously productive throughout the 1840s and 1850s, his greatest decades...His output was enormous - about 3660 images over his lifetime - and Phiz became a household familiar...From 1859 to 1867 he issued around 440 more images, but changes in the visual tastes of readers, in reproductive techniques for book illustration, and in the kind of books publishers issued (more cheap, un-illustrated fiction) all worked against Browne's talent...He also indulged his love for drawing horses in sporting journals such as the New Sporting Magazine, the Great Gun, and the Sporting Times... Browne's brilliance as an illustrator did not satisfy him. He never shed the idea that he was first and foremost a fine artist" (Oxford Online DNB).

The plates:

1. Tasting. "Crummy - rather - Oh my!"
2. Seeing. "Now then Gents, open yr eyes -- blow yr precious noses, and don't breathe on the glasses!
3. Feeling. "A nice young man: with expectations."
4. Smelling. "A Pair of Snuffers."
5. Hearing. "The Crow doth sing as sweetly as the Lark, when neither is attended:"

Martin Hardie, p. 219; Not in Bobins or Tooley. (Inventory #: 06051)