The Second Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of Consolation. A Poem. [And] The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of a Wife.

ROWLANDSON, Thomas (illus.); COMBE, William.

Published by London: R. Ackermann, 1820-21

About this Item

First editions. The Tours follow the amusing misadventures of the titular character, a foolish clergyman and schoolmaster, and satirize contemporary travel writing. Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827) created the vivid, caricature-style illustrations of Dr Syntax's various mishaps, and William Coombe (1742-1823) composed the narrative poems that accompany them. Dr Syntax first appeared in Ackermann's Poetical Magazine in 1809. The character is based on the artist, cleric and travel writer William Gilpin (1724-1804). In his 1768 Essay on Prints, Gilpin defined the picturesque as "a term expressive of that peculiar kind of beauty, which is agreeable in a picture" (p. 2). His writing encouraged amateur artists to travel in search of picturesque vistas to reproduce. Coombe mocks such as activities: "His pencil too perfom'd its duty / In sketching many a landscape beauty / Scarce rose a cot within the bound / That his dominion did surround / Whose whiten'd walls did not impart / Some bounty on the Doctor's art". During his early career as an artist, Rowlandson travelled extensively through Britain and Continental Europe, producing a mix of caricatures and the style landscape painting mocked in the Tours. At the beginning of the 19th century, he moved into book and magazine illustration and was primarily employed by Rudolph Ackermann. His work demonstrates his vast range. He was "as much a master of the lyrical watercolour of rolling countryside as of the incisive caricature". The latter, seen here, is "marked by brilliant draughtsmanship and acute observation of stance, movement, and character" (ODNB). Houfe, p. 285. Two works, (257 x 166 mm), large octavo in half-sheets. 24 coloured aquatint plates in each vol., tissue guards in Third Tour, woodcut vignette to p. [51] of Second Tour, aquatint title page and vignette tailpiece in Third Tour. Contemporary red straight-grain half morocco, spines flat, lettered in gilt with gilt and blind tooling, marbled sides and endpapers, all edges untrimmed. Spots of wear to board edges and corners, covers a little rubbed, occasional offsetting from plates, well-margined: in very good condition.

Seller Inventory # 119160

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Second Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of Consolation. A Poem. [And] The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of a Wife.
• Publisher: London: R. Ackermann, 1820-21
• Edition: 1st Edition