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The English Dance of Death - by Wm. Combe - Th. Rowlandson illustr.

About the Item

Rowlandson,Thomas & Combe, William The English Dance of Death; in Twenty-Four Monthly Numbers, from the designs of Thomas Rowlandson accompanied by metrical illustrations by the author of "Doctor Syntax." London: R. Ackermann, 1814 / 1816. FIRST EDITION, 2 VOLUMES Royal 8vo; 9 x 5 15/16 inches (230 x 150 mm); Vol. 1: vii, 293, v. Vol. 2: i., 299, iv. Vol. 1: hand-colored frontispiece, hand colored illustrated title (dated March 1st 1816), printed title page dated 1814, a year earlier than the generally accepted first edition in book form; 72 hand-colored aquatint plates by Thomas Rowlandson on Whatman paper, with tissue guards throughout. Near contemporary 3/4 brown polished calf binding with gold fillets and decorations on band, corners, and spine compartments, gilt title on maroon labels, marbled paper boards and matching end-papers, t.e.g.; f.e.p. loose on vol. 1, some rubbing on joints, spine tips, and corners; some offsets and occasional spotting; margins of three pages and 2 plates of vol. 1 expertly re-margined, 4 mm tear at top of plate facing p. 291, not affecting the image. - Armorial bookplate of Graham M. Adee pasted inside front cover of both volumes. [Grolier, Rowlandson 32; Tooley 411; Prideaux pp. 306-07 & p. 332; Ray 35] CONDITION: Very Good. Beginning with a frontispiece of Death Crowned, with Dart, Sitting on the World, a title page vignette of skeletons dancing in a churchyard, and a quotation from Horace, the book goes on to illustrate many situations of English life with characters dealing with the presence of death, always portrayed as a spirited skeleton. "Rowlandson's Dance of Death, the only series on the subject since Holbein's to rival that master, is the perfect complement to his Microcosm of London, for here the artist is concerned for the most part not with crowds, but with scenes of violent action or intense emotion drawn from private life. Far from seeming repetitious, the figure of Death provides a sardonic presence which adds immensely to the scenes he stage manages…"(Ray, Gordon N. The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914. New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, 1976; pp. 27-28). Rowlandson and Combe had begun a successful collaboration in 1810 on the monthly Doctor Syntax series for Rudolph Ackermann's Poetical Magazine, with Rowlandson producing the illustrations first and Combe writing the poetry, in iambic tetrameter, second. They continued this collaborative style on further works, including this work and The Dance of Life (our inventory no. 867). Published originally in 24 monthly numbers (3 plates to each part) and on completion issued in two volumes, R.V. Tooley pronounces it "Indispensable to any Rowlandson collection, one of the essential pivots of any colour plate Library, being one of the main works of Rowlandson." [English Books with Coloured Plates, 411]. Sarah Prideaux, in her work Aquatint Engraving states that "The Combe-Rowlandson alliance also produced other fruits, the Dance of Death and Dance of Life, being notably above the ordinary level of Combe's verse. These works show the better side of Rowlandson's genius." (pp. 306-7). "The subject of the book lies in the often quoted saying of Horace -- 'Pallida Mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas Regumque turres.' (Pale Death, impartial, he knocks at the hovels of the poor, the towers…). The idea of Death as the universal depredator, stretching out his bony hand to seize his prey at moments inopportune and unexpected, showing the vanity of human life and the futility of human pleasures and pursuits, had been pictured by many artists before Rowlandson, notably in the famous series by Holbein. Rowlandson in his Dance of Death takes his characters from the world around him, sees them in his own original way, and imparts to the subject his own satirical humour, with its curious combination of the sublime and the ludicrous. It is obvious at a glance that the artist bestowed exceptional care on the illustrations for this book. The union of the gruesome and the grotesque appealed strongly to his imagination and in completeness of detail and carefulness of grouping the illustrations excel nearly all his other work." (Martin Hardie, English Coloured Books, pp. 171-172). Graham M. Adee, whose bookplate appears in each of the 2 volumes, was a Captain of the U.S. Navy and then U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. His stunning library of color-plate and sporting books was sold at Parke-Bernet in 1953.

Dimensions:

Height: 9 in (22.86 cm)Width: 5.94 in (15.09 cm)Depth: 2.5 in (6.35 cm)

Sold As:

Set of 2

Materials and Techniques:

Gold Leaf,Leather,Paper

Place of Origin:

England

Period:

Early 19th Century

Date of Manufacture:

1814