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Doing the Thing, and the Thing Done, in a Series of Sporting Plates. London: S. and J. Fuller, 1818 [watermarked 1817].
Details
[ALKEN, Henry Thomas (1785-1851)]
Doing the Thing, and the Thing Done, in a Series of Sporting Plates. London: S. and J. Fuller, 1818 [watermarked 1817].
First issue of satirical prints by Henry Alken writing under his pseudonym Ben Tally-Ho, together with a bifolium of publisher’s ads loosely inserted. While contemporary advertisements record only plates 3-8 in the primary issue published on 2 March 1818, Tooley notes that plates 1 and 2 of the present set, dated 5 April 1818, were frequently bound alongside the original six. Their integrity as a set of eight prints is confirmed by the original watercolours housed in the Yale Center for British Art, where the full eight are present. Alken illustrates and captions this satirical publication, constructing the narrative as a sequence of before-and-afters in the life of a huntsman: showing, for example, in the first two plates a huntsman at the beginning of the day, and then again at the end of the afternoon, his spirits rather dampened by the day's sport. Alken's alter-ego Ben Tally-Ho later also appears as a character in his satirical series Scenes in the Life of Master George (see lot 65). Bobins IV, 1371; Mellon/Snelgrove, p.11; Schwerdt I, p.13 cited under title, Doing It Somehow with 6 plates; Siltzer, p.69; Tooley 24 also calling for 6 plates.
Oblong quarto (276 x 426mm). 8 hand-coloured aquatint plates (very marginal spotting). Modern maroon half morocco gilt over marbled boards, with morocco gilt label and gilt decoration to covers, preserving original letterpress front wrapper with advertisements on verso (stab holes to wrapper and margins of plates present but without stitching).
Doing the Thing, and the Thing Done, in a Series of Sporting Plates. London: S. and J. Fuller, 1818 [watermarked 1817].
First issue of satirical prints by Henry Alken writing under his pseudonym Ben Tally-Ho, together with a bifolium of publisher’s ads loosely inserted. While contemporary advertisements record only plates 3-8 in the primary issue published on 2 March 1818, Tooley notes that plates 1 and 2 of the present set, dated 5 April 1818, were frequently bound alongside the original six. Their integrity as a set of eight prints is confirmed by the original watercolours housed in the Yale Center for British Art, where the full eight are present. Alken illustrates and captions this satirical publication, constructing the narrative as a sequence of before-and-afters in the life of a huntsman: showing, for example, in the first two plates a huntsman at the beginning of the day, and then again at the end of the afternoon, his spirits rather dampened by the day's sport. Alken's alter-ego Ben Tally-Ho later also appears as a character in his satirical series Scenes in the Life of Master George (see lot 65). Bobins IV, 1371; Mellon/Snelgrove, p.11; Schwerdt I, p.13 cited under title, Doing It Somehow with 6 plates; Siltzer, p.69; Tooley 24 also calling for 6 plates.
Oblong quarto (276 x 426mm). 8 hand-coloured aquatint plates (very marginal spotting). Modern maroon half morocco gilt over marbled boards, with morocco gilt label and gilt decoration to covers, preserving original letterpress front wrapper with advertisements on verso (stab holes to wrapper and margins of plates present but without stitching).
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