[BRATHWAITE, RICHARD]. CLITUS-ALEXANDRINUS, pseud. Whimzies: Or, A New Cast of Characters. London: Printed by F. K[ingston] and to be sold by Ambrose Rithirdon 1631. 12mo, 119 x 67 mm. (4 11/16 x 2 5/8 in.), late nineteenth-century fawn calf, covers gilt-panelled, spine panelled in six compartments, morocco lettering-pieces, joints and extremities scuffed, lacking blank leaf A1, small stain to first three leaves, a few words partially obscured in gutters, paper flaw to last leaf affecting 2 letters. FIRST EDITION, 2 parts in one, separately titled, part 1 title (general title) a cancel as usual, both titles within four-part woodcut borders, dedication in part 1 and dedication leaf in part 2 signed "Clitus Alexandrinus," woodcut and type ornament head- and tailpieces, with errata leaf M7 and M8 blank, "Alphabeticall Table of the Characters" (fols. A11-12) misbound at end. Grolier Wither to Prior 70; STC 3591.

Details

[BRATHWAITE, RICHARD]. CLITUS-ALEXANDRINUS, pseud. Whimzies: Or, A New Cast of Characters. London: Printed by F. K[ingston] and to be sold by Ambrose Rithirdon 1631. 12mo, 119 x 67 mm. (4 11/16 x 2 5/8 in.), late nineteenth-century fawn calf, covers gilt-panelled, spine panelled in six compartments, morocco lettering-pieces, joints and extremities scuffed, lacking blank leaf A1, small stain to first three leaves, a few words partially obscured in gutters, paper flaw to last leaf affecting 2 letters. FIRST EDITION, 2 parts in one, separately titled, part 1 title (general title) a cancel as usual, both titles within four-part woodcut borders, dedication in part 1 and dedication leaf in part 2 signed "Clitus Alexandrinus," woodcut and type ornament head- and tailpieces, with errata leaf M7 and M8 blank, "Alphabeticall Table of the Characters" (fols. A11-12) misbound at end. Grolier Wither to Prior 70; STC 3591.

Rare suite of satirical portraits of literary and social types, part 1 containing 24 "characters", presented in alphabetical order from "An Almanack-Maker" to "A Zealous Brother"; part 2, entitled "A Cater-character, throwne out of a Boxe by an Experienc'd Gamester," containing four more portraits. Brathwaite was a poet and dramatist who is best known for his Barnabae Itinerarium (1638), a narrative of travel through England written in doggerel Latin and English verse, and for two courtesy books, The English Gentleman and Gentlewoman (1630, 1631) .

Provenance: Edward Vernon Utterson, bookplate -- (Henry or) Alfred Huth, bookplate (sale, Sotheby's, part 1, 15 November 1911, lot 919, sold to:) -- Henry E. Huntington, duplicate stamp on lower flyleaf (collation note by B. Quaritch dated December 1911).