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First Edition Thus. (First with the Cruikshank woodcut illustrations). Hard cover, 16 mo (4 x 6 3/8 inches), finely bound by Riviere & Sons, stamp signed to verso endpaper, in three-quarter calf with tan cloth-covered boards. Spine with six raised bands tooled with elaborate gilt decorations, all board edges ruled in gilt, a.e.g. The spine with six raised bands tooled with elaborate gilt decoration, and titles, [3] 34, [3] pp. Illustrated frontispiece plus five other full page wood engraved illustrations by renowned British illustrator George Cruikshank ((1792-1878) Also, with smaller vignette at title page and one at "fini". Printed by J. Unwin, St. Peter's Alley, Cornhill. CONDITION: Very Good. Slight soiling to cloth. Joints have light rubbing at head and tail of spine. Tips gently rubbed. Inside, hinges are in order and remains firmly bound. Old polish or glue? offset to the marbled endpapers, including at inside corners, browning some areas of the marbling. Text lightly age toned. Gilt remains bright. **A short, one-act burlesque, to which several songs were added, at least one of which was written by another author (see p. 14.) In the story, the King of Utopia, Artaxominous, holds court --in verse--with a ramshackle audience of functionaries, making light of any real issues of the day to concern himself rather with the romance of a young lady who is not his wife. A silly duel ensues. There is a dramatic death scene, and the stage erupts into song. Wildly popular by all accounts. This 1837 edition, was the first to use the Cruikshank engraved illustrations. Publisher Joseph Thomas was a stationer and news vendor in London's Cornhill; Simpkin and Marshall were publishers and book wholesalers during this period. The Introduction describes the career of the AUTHOR, W. B. Rhodes (1772-1826). After a stint working in an attorney's office, Rhodes was engaged as a teller at The Bank of England and collected large numbers of English plays. "Bombastes Furiouso" was his premier contribution to the genre, although he had several other published titles in a similarly humorous vein. The one-act play was first performed in London at the Haymarket on 7th August, 1810. The British Library has a playbill with the names of the actors listed in this publication on p.6: a Mr. Mathews, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Liston, performing at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London on Jan. 11, 1814. (blplaybillsdotorg.) (AMJ)
Ref: HAHA 9768
$195.00 $175.50