The Analysis of the Hunting Field; Being a Series of Sketches of the Principal Characters That Compose One. The Whole Forming a Slight Souvenir of the Season, 1845-6 Surtees, Robert Smith FINE PRESS and BINDINGS,LITERATURE [Many Sub-Catagories]

This is one of Surtees few non-fiction works, taken from the sporting newspaper Bell's Life in London during the fox hunting season of 1845-6. Handsomely bound by Morrell in Full crimson morocco leather; Four raised spine bands with tittle and decorations; Dentelles embellished with gilt hunting motifs; Doublures to marbled endpages. Red silk place-holder ribbon. Original cloth and spine bound-in at rear. Bindings tight and square. Text clean, toned with scattered foxing. Moderate handling wear. Darkened spot upper area near the spin eon the front board. First Edition - Methuen, 1904. Six hand-colored aquatint plates, and extra title, with forty-three woodcuts engraved by Cook and CO. 4to; 26 cm. vi-326 pages. All plates present. Provenance: Large engraved armorial bookplate of James Allen Young (coat-of-arms beneath a crested helm, rococo cartouche, and Latin motto 'Nomen juvenis non mens,' . Surtees s fox-hunting classic more social satire than manual parades the hunt s stock characters (masters, whips, black coats, bold riders, overdressed neophytes) and the rituals of a great meet, all delivered with dry, observational wit. The book helped cement Surtees s reputation as the comic anatomist of Victorian sporting life. Background: Robert Surtees was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer. He left for London in 1825, intending to practice law in the capital, but had difficulty making his way and began contributing to the Sporting Magazine. "His Novels are pre-eminent in the annals of sport".[ Kunitz] Henry Thomas Alken was an English painter and engraver chiefly known as a caricaturist and illustrator of sporting subjects and coaching scenes. REF: Tooley: 470; Prideaux; Nevil: 31; Kunitz: 597; Roy Young, Catalog: 236; Higginson: 55; Smith: 433. Subjects: Fox-hunting types and etiquette; Social comedy in the hunting field; Sporting literature; Victorian satire; Fox-hunting history; Illustrated books.