Political Tracts. [CRUIKSHANK (George)].

Sixteen tracts bound into one.

Illustrated with engravings by George Cruikshank.

Mixed editions. 8vo. [220 x 140 x 19 mm]. [127]ff. Bound in blue diced calf, the boards tooled with a broad and narrow border in gilt accompanied by an ornamental roll in blind. The spine divided into five compartments by raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second, the rest with gilt compartments and decorative centres, edges of the boards tooled in gilt, marbled endleaves. (Boards lightly rubbed and corners bumped, extremities retouched).

London: William Hone / Effingham Wilson / Thomas Dolby / W. T. Sherwin / R. Carlile, 1817-1821

[With]:

CRUIKSHANK (George). The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder.

Woodcut, comprising 14 vignettes, on stiff paper. [302 x 65 mm]. Folded in two. (Slightly worn at the fold, light foxing on reverse).

London: William Hone, 1820

The odd spotting otherwise a very good copy. Ownership inscription on the rear pastedown belonging to "Martin [?], Nottingham, 1863".

A two page 'Contents' list written in manuscript - listing 17 tracts instead of 16, evidently bound later without "Poems on his Domestic Circumstances by Lord Byron". A few pages with early manuscript annotations.

The tracts included are:

1. The Political House that Jack Built. 21st Ed. London: William Hone (1819).

2. The Old Black Cock and his Dunghill Advisers in Jeopardy; or, The Palace that Jack Built. 4th Ed. London: Effingham Wilson (1820).

3. The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder, A National Toy, With Fourteen Step Scenes; and Illustrations in Verse, With Eighteen Other Cuts. 27th Ed. London: William Hone (1820).

4. The R----L Fowls; or, The Old Black Cocks Attempt to Crow Over his Illustrious Mate. 9th Ed. London: Effingham Wilson (1820).

5. "Non Mi Ricordo!" 8th Ed. London: William Hone (1820).

6. The Man in the Moon. 12th Ed. London: William Hone (1820).

7. The Political Showman At Home! Exhibiting his Cabinet of Curiosities and Creatures All Alive! London: William Hone (1821).

8. A Political Christmas Carol, Set to Music, To be Chanted or Sung Throughout the United Kingdom and the Dominions Beyond the Seas, By All Persons Thereunto Especially Moved.

9. The Total Eclipse: A Grand Politico-Astronomical Phenomenon, Which Occurred in the Year 1820; With a Series of Engravings, to Demonstrate the Configuration of the Planets. To Which is Added, an Hieroglyphic, Adapted to These Wonderful Times! 2nd Ed. London: Thomas Dolby.

10. Wat Tyler, A Dramatic Poem. London: W. T. Sherwin.

11. The Late John Wilkes's Catechism of a Ministerial Member. London R. Carlile (1817).

12. The Bullet Tedeum; With the Canticle of the Stone. London: R. Carlile (1817).

13. The Order of Administration of the Loaves and Fishes; or, The Communion of Corruption's Host. London: R. Carlile (1817).

14. The Political Litany, Diligently Revised to be Said or Sung Until the Appointed Change Come, Throughout the Dominion of England and Wales; and the Town of Berwick Upon Tweed. London: R. Carlile (1817).

15. The Sinecurist's Creed, or Belief; as the Same Can or May be Sung or Said Throughout the Kingdom. London: R. Carlile.

16. A Hunting Song, For a Snowy Day, As Sung at the Opening of the Hunter's Tower, In Dukinfield, February 27th, 1807.

[Also included]:

Accompanying 'toy' for The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder. A folding graphic depiction of the degeneration of the relationship between George IV and Queen Caroline. It was published after the opening of the trial of Caroline on 17th August 1820. It was intended to be sold with a popular pamphlet of the same name, which ran to numerous editions that year, but the two are rarely found together and the Ladder is often missing.

"It was based on a popular plaything with each rung of the ladder representing an episode in the sorry history of the royal marriage, including the Prince's amorous adventures, the Princess's humiliations culminating in the Bill of Pains and Penalties, the instrument by which she was to be divorced and stripped of her titles. Each of the fourteen episodes was illustrated by the telling woodcut by George [Cruikshank], some of them surpassing even the <i>Scourge<n> for sheer vituperation. [...] Predictably, The Queen's Matrimonial Ladder was an instant success, perhaps contributing to Caroline's eventual triumph - certainly someone in office thought it worthwhile to offer Hone £500 to suppress it, to no avail" - Michael Wynn Jones, George Cruikshank, his life and London (1978).

Stock no. ebc9337