Sporting Scenes and Country Characters

London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, 1840. First Edition. Full Calf. Very Good. Henry Alken, Thomas Landseer, Charles Hancock, William Kidd, others. With the rather exotic and curious original cloth binding bound in. Black and gold, the material looks like a textured fabric, with an abstract, near sponged paint appearance almost, although there are clear representations of flowers and tree limbs, these looking like coral formations. Around the perimeter of the board pieces were blindstamped ruling and Rococo ornament. 8vo. 21 by 15 cm. xii, 332, [16] pp. Many illustrations interspersed throughout text, and by many different artists, with Henry Alken being by far the most represented. The Landseer contributions are by Thomas Landseer, the brother of the more famous Edwin Landseer. The actual binding of our copy, as opposed to the one bound in, was done by Riviere and Son. It is scratched and has a considerable amount of surface chipping along one edge. It remains nonetheless attractive with its quintessential equestrian gilt decoration in the spine compartments, whose gilding work has held up fantastically well. The turn-ins also are quite ornate and well-preserved. The leaves within are lightly foxed at times, but overall they read as clean, with light age toning. The original binding pieces do have a few patches of cloudy discoloration, but this doesn't mar our sense of how they would have been when first issued. (Inventory #: 20251)