COMBE, WILLIAM and THOMAS ROWLANDSON. The English Dance of Death. London: R. Ackermann, 1814-16. 2 vols., vol. 1 with hand-colored engraved frontispiece and title, 72 hand-colored engraved plates by Rowlandson -- The Dance of Life. London: R. Ackermann, 1817. Hand-colored engraved frontispiece and title, 24 hand-colored engraved plates after Rowlandson. Together 3 vols., 8vo, uniform dark blue morocco, covers with gilt floral borders, spines in six compartments with five raised bands, gilt-lettered in two, a repeated gilt floral panel in the rest, board edges and turn-ins gilt, g.e., by TOUT, one upper cover with a light scratch, minor rubbing to extremities; some very minor light spotting or offsetting, but overall a very clean and attractive set. FIRST EDITION, containing the very rare first issue title-page dated 1814 in vol. I, which reads: "English Dance of Death in twenty-four monthly numbers." The later 1815 title (reading: "The English Dance of Death from the designs of Thomas Rowlandson") is bound immediately following the above. Abbey Life 263 & 264; Tooley 411 & 410.Abbey states that the Dance of Death was issued in 24 serialized parts from April 1814 until March 1816. Although many of the early plates are dated 1814, neither Abbey nor Tooley notes a title-page dated 1814. This rarely found early issue title was presumably abandoned for the 1815 title-page which would have been included along with the other preliminary pages for binding when the final part of vol. 1 was published in March 1815. According to American Book Prices Current, the last copy to appear at auction containing this variant title-page was in 1972 in a copy bound from the original parts (see Christie's 22 March 1972, lot 109).Provenance: Julius Thompson and Cecille Murphy Benedict, bookplate. (3)

COMBE, WILLIAM and THOMAS ROWLANDSON. The English Dance of Death. London: R. Ackermann, 1814-16. 2 vols., vol. 1 with hand-colored engraved frontispiece and title, 72 hand-colored engraved plates by Rowlandson -- The Dance of Life. London: R. Ackermann, 1817. Hand-colored engraved frontispiece and title, 24 hand-colored engraved plates after Rowlandson. Together 3 vols., 8vo, uniform dark blue morocco, covers with gilt floral borders, spines in six compartments with five raised bands, gilt-lettered in two, a repeated gilt floral panel in the rest, board edges and turn-ins gilt, g.e., by TOUT, one upper cover with a light scratch, minor rubbing to extremities; some very minor light spotting or offsetting, but overall a very clean and attractive set. FIRST EDITION, containing the very rare first issue title-page dated 1814 in vol. I, which reads: "English Dance of Death in twenty-four monthly numbers." The later 1815 title (reading: "The English Dance of Death from the designs of Thomas Rowlandson") is bound immediately following the above. Abbey Life 263 & 264; Tooley 411 & 410. Abbey states that the Dance of Death was issued in 24 serialized parts from April 1814 until March 1816. Although many of the early plates are dated 1814, neither Abbey nor Tooley notes a title-page dated 1814. This rarely found early issue title was presumably abandoned for the 1815 title-page which would have been included along with the other preliminary pages for binding when the final part of vol. 1 was published in March 1815. According to American Book Prices Current, the last copy to appear at auction containing this variant title-page was in 1972 in a copy bound from the original parts (see Christie's 22 March 1972, lot 109). Provenance: Julius Thompson and Cecille Murphy Benedict, bookplate. (3)

Details

COMBE, WILLIAM and THOMAS ROWLANDSON. The English Dance of Death. London: R. Ackermann, 1814-16. 2 vols., vol. 1 with hand-colored engraved frontispiece and title, 72 hand-colored engraved plates by Rowlandson -- The Dance of Life. London: R. Ackermann, 1817. Hand-colored engraved frontispiece and title, 24 hand-colored engraved plates after Rowlandson. Together 3 vols., 8vo, uniform dark blue morocco, covers with gilt floral borders, spines in six compartments with five raised bands, gilt-lettered in two, a repeated gilt floral panel in the rest, board edges and turn-ins gilt, g.e., by TOUT, one upper cover with a light scratch, minor rubbing to extremities; some very minor light spotting or offsetting, but overall a very clean and attractive set. FIRST EDITION, containing the very rare first issue title-page dated 1814 in vol. I, which reads: "English Dance of Death in twenty-four monthly numbers." The later 1815 title (reading: "The English Dance of Death from the designs of Thomas Rowlandson") is bound immediately following the above. Abbey Life 263 & 264; Tooley 411 & 410.

Abbey states that the Dance of Death was issued in 24 serialized parts from April 1814 until March 1816. Although many of the early plates are dated 1814, neither Abbey nor Tooley notes a title-page dated 1814. This rarely found early issue title was presumably abandoned for the 1815 title-page which would have been included along with the other preliminary pages for binding when the final part of vol. 1 was published in March 1815. According to American Book Prices Current, the last copy to appear at auction containing this variant title-page was in 1972 in a copy bound from the original parts (see Christie's 22 March 1972, lot 109).

Provenance: Julius Thompson and Cecille Murphy Benedict, bookplate. (3)