THE SOCIAL DAY. A Poem in Four Cantos. But being without the text and containing fine proof impressions of the plates on India paper.

COXE, Peter. ACKERMANN, Rudolph

Published by (Ackermann), London, (1823).

About this Item

Lge 8vo. As per the early 1900s(?) bookseller's catalogue pasted to the rear. As well as an engraved title "33 very fine engravings, consisting of figure subjects and landscapes after Wilkie, Stothard, Smirke, Constable, Calcott, W.R. Bigg, R. Hills, W.H. Pyne, T. Hearne, and others, engraved on copper and steel in the most highly finished manner by Scriven, Smith, Middiman, Warren, and Landseer, but principally by that eminent engraver John Scott. These beautiful engravings were made to illustrate a poem by Peter Coxe, entitled The Social Day, a poem of small merit, and one which would probably not be heard of now if it had not been illustrated by the best artists and engravers of the time, without regard to cost. These impressions of those engravings are special proofs, taken off for art connoisseurs and collectors before the plates were used for printing the text, and with large margins which display the beauty of the engravings to best advantage. They are well worth the attention of collectors of English line engravings at its best period. One of the plates, known as, 'The Broken Jar', engraved by Warren after Wilkie, is extremely rare, and has alone been sold for £3 3s. 0d. It was the first plate engraved on steel, and is very beautiful both in composition and engraving; but it was broken during the process of printing the book, and is consequently absent from all but the earliest copies of the work. A fine portrait of the author (Peter Coxe) is among the engravings." Another of the extra plates is a less worked version of a plate of a deer hunt. One plate is from a John Constable. Another entry for this item refers to paper guards between each plate. However, there is no sign any were ever bound in here. With the bookplate of the collector J. Cresswell in the style of Bewick. Spine repaired with adhesive cloth. Covers worn; joints cracking. Quite a lot of foxing especially to the first and last few pages and to the cheaper paper on which the India paper used to press the engravings has been pasted, though some of the latter have some foxing too. Nonetheless, the engravings remain very clear and fine.

Seller Inventory # a.COXEPPROOFS

Bibliographic Details

• Title: THE SOCIAL DAY. A Poem in Four Cantos. But being without the text and containing fine proof impressions of the plates on India paper.
• Publisher: (Ackermann), London, (1823).
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.