The Works of William Hogarth. 2 volumes, J. Godwin.

by J. Godwin

Beautiful Fine Binding. 2 Books. The Works of William Hogarth; containing one hundred and fifty eight engravings by Mr Cooke and Mr Davenport; with descriptions, in which are pointed out many beauties that have hitherto escaped notice, with a comment on their Moral tendency by the Rev. John Trusler.
A New Edition, two volumes, revised and corrected. London printed for J. Godwin, 1827. The one hundred and fifty eight engravings marked “proof”. All complete.

Handsomely bound in contemporary straight grained crimson morocco, blind stamped with wide borders gilt, also page edges gilt. The beautiful original binding is slightly rubbed, but firm. (The picture is a composite of examples of the elegant fine quality binding of the spines and the covers of the pair.) Internally there is some foxing but on the whole these books are in very good condition. There are two bookplates at front - one with coat of arms for "John Joseph Tanner", and the other "ex libris, Shelley Holford, Essex". 295 x 230mm (approximately 12 x 9 inches)

This is of course not the first edition of Hogarth's work, but it is the finest work we have seen. The engravings were the first steel-engraved 'proof' plates from Hogarth's paintings, exemplifying Hogarth's jaundiced view on life. ‘Proofs’ for approval prior to publication were often used when an engraver did new plates of an artist’s work – as in the case of William Hogarth engravings  While Hogarth’s original engravings are extremely rare, a complete publication with proof prints is quite sought after.

This superb pair of volumes of steel engravings published in 1827 from Hogarth’s paintings are by Thomas Cook (1744-1818) who was best known for his Hogarth engravings (not Mr 'Cooke' as in the title page), and by one of the earliest exponents of steel engraving, Samuel Davenport (1783 and 1867).

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