Studies from the Stage, or the Vicissitudes of Life

London: W. Sams, 1823. Full Morocco. Very Good. Oblong 4to, 27 by 40.5 cm. Engraved title page, followed by 20 hand-colored plates, capturing 121 scenes, with five to eight per plate. Bound by Morrell, with gilt decoration, including turn ins. Abbey Life 415. The conceit here is various. Some of the illustrations are inspired by the titles of plays, which can be rendered both literally or with a dollop of license, and other illustrations spring from quintessential dramatic scenes, or perhaps particular notorious scenes from plays. The overriding spirit, whatever the source, is burlesque, high jinx parody, and silly fun. And if the theatrical allusions are at times thin or strained, the contrary argument to be made is that life itself is a stage -- or, theater is in everything and inseparable from daily living. Life is theater, and theater is life, might be the motto. The mish mash of imagery is a feast to the eye, and from this work, it is our sense that we get a superb sense of life as it really was in Regency England, even if what we behold in its illustrations is exuberantly absurdist. Condition: binding rubbed along the joints, with some starting. Minor soiling, both light and infrequent, within.