New Bath Guide, The

London: Hurst, Chance & Co., 1830. The Adventures of the Blunderhead Family in Bath
One of a Few Copies with the Cruikshank Etchings on India Paper
With a Signed George Cruikshank Letter asking for Money...

CRUIKSHANK, George, illustrator. ANSTEY, Christopher. The New Bath Guide; or Memoirs of the B-N-R-D family, in a series of Poetical Epistles: by Christopher Anstey, Esq. A new edition; with a biographical and topographical preface, and anecdotical annotations by John Britton. Embellished with engravings. London: Hurst, Chance & Co., 1830.

First edition with Cruikshank Illustrations and John Britton's notes.

Octavo ( 7 3/4 x 4 7/8 inches; 197 x 124 mm.). [i]-lxxvi, [1]-176. Frontispiece and vignette title by S. Williams. Five etched plates on India paper mounted, by George Cruikshank.

Handsomely bound by Bayntun-Rivière ca. 1960 in full dark blue morocco, covers with triple-gilt borders, spine with five raised bands, elaborately decorated and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt ruled board edges, decorative gilt turn-ins, cockerl style endpapers, top edge gilt, others uncut. With the small oval bookplate of Adrian W. Flühmann on front paste-down. Bound without the 24 page catalog.

A very fine copy with an interesting one-page ALS on pale blue paper, by George Cruikshank asking for money "Amwell St. 28 Feb. [18]46): "My Dear Behnes, I am sorry to be so troublesome - but at this moment, any kind of coin, would be acceptable from a Four penny piece up to a Five pound note. so pray do that's a good fellow try & help your (indecipherable) Geoerge Cruikshank". We know that Cruikshank had money problems throughout his life. The recipient, "My Dear Behnes", is probably the English sculptor William Behnes (1795-1864) who in 1854 produced a bust of George Cruikshank exhibited in the Crystal Palace. Cruikshank lived at 69-71 Amwell Stree, London EC1 from 1824-1849.

"A few copies were issued with the five etchings by Cruikshank taken on India paper, but the woodcuts by Williams are on ordinary paper" Cohn, p. 16.

The writer and poet Christopher Anstey (1724-1805) was inspired by his frequent visits to Bath - where he settled in 1770 - to compose these letters in verse retracing the adventures of the Blunderhead family (a Fenouillard family style) . His New Bath Guide appeared for the first time in 1766. The work, which made the delights of Horace Walpole among others, knew more than thirty editions from 1766 to 1830, testifying to a continuous success.

Cohn, 34; Not mentioned in Patten.