ECCENTRIC TALES. - From the German of W.F. Von Kosewitz, with Illustrations by George Cruikshank, from sketches by Alfred Crowquill.

In-8 p. (mm. 210x130), piena pelle coeva, triplo filetto in oro ai piatti, dorso a cordoni con decorazioni e titolo oro su due tasselli ai riquadri, dentelles dorate ai risguardi in carta marmorizzata, tagli dorati, pp. 181, illustrato fuori testo da 20 deliziose illustrazioni di Cruikshank, con splendida coloritura a mano coeva, ed eseguite sui disegni di Alfred Henry Forrester (sotto lo pseudonimo di Alfred Crowquill), fratello dell'A. "Prima edizione" di queste favole pubblicate sotto pseudonimo, preso dal tedesco, da Robert Forrester, ed originariamente pubblicate in 4 parti. Vi sono contenute: The Troubadours - Aristippus - The nose - Karel Pietrehl - Albertina. Alfred Crowquill was the pseudonym of the Forrester brothers, Charles Robert (180350) and Alfred Henry (180472), who between them wrote and illustrated a wide variety of satirical articles, comedy picture books, albums and books for children. Printed in colour and in black and white with illustrations reproduced in the form of wood-engravings, etchings and lithographs, and issued in cheap and sometimes ephemeral formats, their publications were tremendously popular. The eccentric name was a selling point heavily promoted in advertisements, and their work was historically significant for the ways in which it blurred the distinction between the tastes of the middle and working classes; valued as the source of light relief at the fireside, the Crowquill brand' was guaranteed to amuse even the sternest of consumers. A book by this unusual partnership was ubiquitous in the nursery, the parlour and even the kitchen and the maid's bedroom.In the brothers' own time their publications were compared with the comic imprints of George Cruikshank, Richard Doyle and John Leech. Working within an evolving comedic tradition, the Forresters' books made an important contribution to the development of visual puns, the representation of the grotesque, social satire, comic irony, caricature and arch humour. Rarely more than a footnote in histories of the period, the range and complexity of this work is under-appreciated (Simon Cooke, Victorian Web).Molto ben conservato.