Hints to Emigrants; or, Incidents in the emigration of John Smith of Smith-Town. Oblong 8vo.

9 uncoloured plates; a little toned & spotted with a few small tears to margins not affecting image. Orig. green pictorial printed paper wrappers; a little dusted & chipped but a good copy of a rare work. Copac records copies at the BL, Oxford and the V&A; OCLC adds three U.S. copies and two in Australia. This edition was preceded by an 1848 printing published by J. Harwood (recorded at the BL only in UK). A diverting graphic extravaganza, conceived in the Munchausen style, in which some of the peculiar features of an unsettled country are whimsically sketched. Mr. John Smith, the emigrant, and founder of the future flourishing town of Smith-Ville, who leaves England with fond anticipation of the snug enjoyments of untaxed colonial existence, is quite astounded at the rugged prospect of his new location and the violent changes of scene that there succeed each other with pantomimic rapidity. He is utterly bewildered at the unceremonious acquaintances and startling events that await him on his arrival, which continue to exhibit their power of attraction from time to time. Wild beasts and wilder fowl indulge him with discordant serenades, and only "hold their jaw" to steal his supplies; fierce tornadoes, vast diluvian washes, intrusive calls of natives when he is not "at home," continually get him into trouble. But in the end John Smith's pluck pulls him safely through all these obstacles. The difficulties and annoyances that stare him ruthlessly in the face, he soon finds are only to be overcome by energy and perseverance, and these latent virtues being called forth, their exercise rewards him by converting his new home, at first so cheerless and unpromising, into his once imagined El Dorado' (Bentley's Miscellany, vol. XXV, 1849, p. 562, and reprinted as part of the introduction in present work). The designer-cum-illustrator Percy Cruikshank was the son of the illustrator George Cruikshank. It has been suggested that the work is set in Canada, however, the presence of monkeys and alligators in more than one plate suggests a more southerly latitude.…