TALES OF IRISH LIFE, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. WITH DESIGNS BY GEORGE CRUIKSHANK (TWO VOLS., COMPLETE)

London, England: J. Robins and Co., Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row, 1824. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good in Slipcase. George Cruikshank. Small octavos. 6 3/4 in. x 4 1/4. Appear to be original boards with paper labels[11] ii-iv, [1], 2-242, [4] (publisher's advertisements) pp.; (Vol. II:) [7], 2-249, [5] (publisher's advertisements). Six black and white illustrations by George Cruikshank (all but the first -- "Affray in a Village Inn" engraved by J. Thompson; "Affray..." was engraved by G.W. Bonner.

The first 33 pages are age-toned, and the remainder of pages, in both volumes, are clean and bright. Much of Volume II is unopened. Housed in a fairly recent buckram-over-wood beige slipcase.

Certain bibliographers state that this set is occasionally found with color illustrations; At least one rare copy has surfaced with both color and black and white illustrations bound in. Irish born author Michael James Whitty made his way to Liverpool where he worked as a journalist and a Superintendent of the Police Nightwatch, acquiring a reputation as a man of considerable bravery, having stopped an attack on the Vauxhall Bridewell jail whch came to e known as "The Orange Riots". He was friends with the illustrator George Cruikshank.

Reading the set 's provenance via the bookplate, this set was probably the property of the William Hartmann Woodin (1869-1934), an industrialist who served as Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of The Treasury, and in creative endeavors, collaborated with Raggedy Andy and Raggedy Ann author/illustrator Johnny Gruell, composing music for Gruell's 1930 book "Raggedy Ann's Sunny Songs". Woodin was also the namesake of Gruell's character Lilttle Wooden Willie. Woodin also made the cover of Time Magazine

This bookplate was designed by famed bookplate illustrator E.B. (Elisha Brown) Bird. Curiously, the name of "Tiffany and Company" appears below the design in the lower right corner. At the top center of the design is a medallion bearing the "logo" (?) of the American Numismatic Society. Woodin was an avid coin collector and under Roosevelt oversaw the decisions which led to all gold being taken out of private hands, but made sure that an exception was written into the law for "rare or unusual coins". Further, Woodin's company, Jackson & Woodin Manufacturing Company, formed by his grandfather and several others, was one of the largest manufacturers of railroad freight cars in the Eastern United States. An image of a freight car appears near the bottom of the bookplate, framed by a zither on one side, and books on the other.