Surtees Robert Smith, Signed (11 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine Condition. Illustrated by Gordon Ross (illustrator). With an introduction by A. Edward Newton. Illustrations taken from watercolors by Gordon Ross. One of 1500 numbered copies printed at The Merrymount Press and signed by the artist. Bound in the publisher's original brown cloth with the cover and spine stamped in gilt. Top edge gilt. Minor fading to the spine. Signed.

Hardcover. Gordon Ross (illustrator). Large octavo (7-1/4" x 10-1/4") bound with gilt design to covers and spine. Introduction by E. A. Newton. Designed by D. B. Updike and printed at the Merrymount Press. Illustrated with 10 handsome full-page watercolors by Gordon Ross. Copy #834 of 1500 SIGNED by the artist on the colophon page. A very small area on the front and on the back cover where the cloth has been peeled away. Very Good in somewhat worn, still quite Good slipcase.

Full Leather. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. Extracts from Handlley Cross with illustrations by G. Denholm Armour. 9 x 11" pp.[44] + 150 with 25 tipped in colour illustrations with titles on tissue guards. De Luxe Limited Edition of which this is 72/350. Near Fine in full pigskin with gilt lettering and gilt picture of Jorrocks. Top edge gilt, remaining edges untrimmed. Slight rubbing to corners. Contents clean and bright with very slight browning to ffep which also has slight worm damage. No other marks or stains. All plates are pristine. Bookplate on fep of Cecil E. Byas, a noted collector who bequeathed parts of his collection to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Signed by Illustrator(s).

8vo., xii, 412pp., hand-coloured frontispiece and 12 hand-coloured plates with 69 wood engravings to the text by John Leech, some occasional light scattered finger soiling as usual, bound in good quality late twentieth century half calf over green boards with contrasting morocco title label lettered in gilt (signed good quality binding by Delrue). A generally VG+ copy. (Sadleir 3161; Tooley 472). Robert Smith Surtees (17 May 1805 16 March 1864) was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer. He was the second son of Anthony Surtees of Hamsterley Hall, a member of an old County Durham family. He left for London in 1825, intending to practise law in the capital, but had difficulty making his way and began contributing to the Sporting Magazine. He launched out on his own with the New Sporting Magazine in 1831, contributing the comic papers which appeared as Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities in 1838. Jorrocks, the sporting cockney grocer, with his vulgarity and good-natured artfulness, was a great success with the public, and Surtees produced more Jorrocks novels in the same vein, notably Handley Cross, where the description of the house is very reminiscent of Hamsterley. Another hero, Soapey Sponge, appears in Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour, possibly Surtees best work. All Surtees' novels were composed at Hamsterley Hall, where he wrote standing up at a desk, like Victor Hugo. In 1835, Surtees abandoned his legal practice and after inheriting Hamsterley Hall in 1838, devoted himself to hunting and shooting, meanwhile writing anonymously for his own pleasure. He was a friend and admirer of the great hunting man Ralph Lambton, who had his headquarters at Sedgefield County Durham, the 'Melton of the North'. Surtees became Lord High Sheriff of Durham in 1856. He died in Brighton in 1864 and was buried in Ebchester church. Though Surtees did not set his novels in any readily identifiable locality, he uses North East place-names like Sheepwash, Howell (How) Burn, and Winford Rig. His memorable Geordie, James Pigg in Handley Cross is based on Joe Kirk, a Slaley huntsman. The famous incident, illustrated by Leech, when Pigg jumps into the melon frame was inspired by a similar episode involving Joe Kirk in Corbridge. As a creator of comic personalities, Surtees is still very readable today. Thackeray envied him his powers of observation, while William Morris considered him 'a master of life' and ranked him with Dickens. The novels are engaging and vigorous, and abound with sharp social observation, with a keener eye than Dickens for the natural world. Perhaps Surtees most resembles the Dickens of Pickwick Papers, which was originally intended as mere supporting matter for a series of sporting illustrations to rival Jorrocks.

Hardback. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket - as issued. Armour, Geo. Denholm (illustrator). Limited. This edition is limited to three hundred and fifty copies, signed by the artist and numbered, of which this is No. 169. Complete with 25 colour illustrations. Original binding. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Signed by Illustrator(s). Book.

First Edition. Signed by Aldin. Good to very good copies with quarter gilt-blocked fine-ribbed cloth over contrasting decorated boards. Offsetting to the prelims from the boards. Remains well-preserved overall. Number 23 out of only 250 copies. Suggested date of publication. Physical description: 2 volumes, plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 27 cm. Black and white illustrations on text leaves; colour illustrations pasted onto backing leaves with covering protective guard leaves bearing illustration titles. Subject: Fox hunting ; Fiction. 4 Kg.

First Edition. Signed by Aldin. Good to very good copies with quarter gilt-blocked fine-ribbed cloth over contrasting decorated boards. Offsetting to the prelims from the boards. Remains well-preserved overall. Number 23 out of only 250 copies. Suggested date of publication. Physical description: 2 volumes, plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 27 cm. Black and white illustrations on text leaves; colour illustrations pasted onto backing leaves with covering protective guard leaves bearing illustration titles. Subject: Fox hunting ; Fiction. 2 Kg.

Condition: Very Good. Limited Edition [151/350]. VG : in very good condition without dust jacket. Signed on limitation page by the illustrator. Teg - remaining edges uncut. 290mm x 250mm (11" x 10"). 150pp. 25 tipped-in colour plates with entitled tissue-guards by G. Denholm Armour. Beautifully illustrated de luxe edition of Surtees' jocular tale in handsome leather binding. Heavy item - shipping supplement may apply for overseas. Morrocco leather cover with gilt illustration to front.

Soft cover. F. tall 8vo. 25.5cm, third edition, revised and enlarged, viii, 291, [1] p., ad., with 16 hand-colored plates (including frontispiece and vignette title page), bound in full crimson crushed morocco, gilt ruled raised bands, full ornate gilt decorations and oval gilt wildlife portraits in the panels, gilt ruled borders on the boards and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, t.e.g., Signed Fine Binding "bound by Zaehnsdorf, London, England", some slight wear at the bottom board edges but a fine attractive copy. (n14). First appeared in New Sporting Magazine and then in book form in 1838 with twelve plates by Phiz. The first edition with Alken's illustrations was published in 1843. cf. Tooley 471.

Octavo, 6 volumes. Three quarters red leather over marbled boards, gilt titles and tooling to the spine, top edge gilt, gilt lined, marbled endpapers, colored frontispiece to each volume, as well as the title page. Illustrations by John Leech and H.K. Browne. In near fine condition. Surtees' was arguably a match for Dickens in the field of social observation, whilst surpassing him as an observer of the natural world: with warmth and humor Surtees captured an era and a way of life that reached its zenith during Queen Victoria's reign.

Phiz. With 8 black and white steel engravings after H.K. Browne (Phiz). 329, [1]pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Half calf. Lord Willoughby de Broke's Copy, signed by him and with the bookplates of Henry Peyto Verney, 16th Baron Willoughby de Broke and Richard Greville Verney With 8 black and white steel engravings after H.K. Browne (Phiz). 329, [1]pp. 1 vols. 8vo.