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WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY — AN ESSAY ON THE GENIUS OF GEORGE CRUIKSHANK
Edited by W. E. Church
London: George Redway, 1884
Scarce Deluxe Large Paper Issue | “A Few Large-Paper Copies” | Mounted India-Proof Portrait by F. W. Pailthorpe | Original Parchment-Paper Wrappers Bound In | Handsome Half Navy Morocco Leather Binding
A handsome and genuinely scarce deluxe copy of William Makepeace Thackeray’s celebrated essay on George Cruikshank, issued by George Redway in 1884 in the publisher’s special Large Paper format.
This is not merely an unusually large or generously margined copy. Contemporary advertising by George Redway explicitly announced:
“A few large-paper copies, with India proof portrait, in imperial 8vo., parchment paper covers. Price 7s. 6d.”
The present copy possesses the identifying features of that separately marketed deluxe issue: its imposing imperial-octavo format, broad margins, substantial paper, mounted India-proof portrait, and original printed parchment-paper wrappers.
The fragile original wrappers have been carefully preserved within a handsome later collector’s binding of half navy morocco leather over marbled boards.
THE SCARCE LARGE PAPER ISSUE
George Redway issued the book in an ordinary format and in a much scarcer bibliophile issue described by the publisher as only “a few large-paper copies.”
No numerical limitation appears to have been recorded. The contemporary publisher’s wording is therefore the most accurate surviving statement of the issue’s scarcity.
The special Large Paper copies were distinguished by:
Imperial-octavo format
Broad margins
Substantial paper
An India-proof portrait of George Cruikshank
Original parchment-paper wrappers
A considerably higher original publication price
These copies were clearly intended for collectors. Surviving Large Paper examples are frequently encountered in elaborate leather bindings or expanded with additional Cruikshank prints, drawings, letters, and other material.
The present example is especially desirable because it retains the original wrappers but has not been swollen or altered through extensive extra illustration. It remains a coherent example of Redway’s publisher-designed deluxe issue.
THE INDIA-PROOF PORTRAIT
The frontispiece is a newly etched portrait of George Cruikshank by Frederick William Pailthorpe.
In the Large Paper issue, the portrait was supplied as an India proof: printed on thin India paper and mounted to the more substantial plate stock. This process allowed for a particularly delicate and clearly impressed image and was commonly reserved for deluxe book and print productions.
The India-proof portrait is specifically identified in Redway’s contemporary advertisement for the Large Paper copies and is one of the principal bibliographical features of the issue.
THACKERAY ON CRUIKSHANK
Thackeray’s essay originally appeared in the June 1840 issue of the Westminster Review. It was one of the earliest substantial critical appreciations of George Cruikshank by a major literary contemporary.
The essay is especially significant because Thackeray was himself an accomplished amateur artist, caricaturist, and illustrator. His response to Cruikshank was therefore not simply that of one author praising another man’s illustrations. Thackeray understood drawing, comic composition, visual satire, and the relationship between printed image and literary text.
He writes with admiration but not uncritical reverence, examining Cruikshank’s humor, social observation, inventiveness, expressive figures, and ability to construct entire comic worlds within small wood-engraved images.
The 1884 Redway edition reprints the essay with a prefatory note by W. E. Church on Thackeray as an artist and art critic. It also restores the visual context of the essay through more than forty illustrations, including the original woodcuts and Pailthorpe’s newly etched portrait.
FIRST REDWAY EDITION
This is the first Redway edition and the first edition in this expanded form, edited by W. E. Church and accompanied by Pailthorpe’s portrait.
The essay had previously appeared in the Westminster Review and was separately issued by Henry Hooper in 1840. The 1884 publication should therefore not be confused with the absolute first appearance of the text.
Redway’s edition is nevertheless a distinct and important Victorian republication, combining Thackeray’s original criticism with Church’s prefatory essay, the complete series of original woodcut illustrations, and a newly commissioned portrait.
GEORGE CRUIKSHANK
George Cruikshank was one of the defining British illustrators and caricaturists of the nineteenth century.
His extraordinarily long career encompassed:
Political and social caricature
Comic illustration
Literary illustration
Popular prints and broadsides
Temperance imagery
Juvenile books
Illustrated novels and periodicals
He is particularly associated with Charles Dickens, whose Sketches by Boz and Oliver Twist he illustrated, but his career extended far beyond Dickens. Cruikshank worked with or illustrated texts by many leading authors and helped shape the visual language of nineteenth-century British satire.
Thackeray’s essay remains especially collectible because it records the response of one of the Victorian era’s major novelists and visual satirists to another.
ORIGINAL WRAPPERS BOUND IN
Both original printed parchment-paper wrappers have been retained within the later binding.
This is an important feature. Large Paper copies were expressly advertised as being issued in parchment-paper covers, which were inherently more vulnerable than a conventional cloth binding.
Many surviving copies have been rebound without their original covers. Their preservation here retains direct physical evidence of the book’s original deluxe published state.
The combination offers both historical integrity and practical protection:
The original publisher’s wrappers remain present
The book is protected by a durable leather binding
The special Large Paper format remains readily apparent
The volume has the shelf presence appropriate to a Victorian collector’s copy
THE BINDING
Bound in handsome half navy morocco leather over marbled boards, probably during the early twentieth century.
The spine is divided by five raised bands into six compartments and is richly decorated and lettered in gilt. Neoclassical gilt tools ornament the compartments, while the navy leather provides an attractive contrast with the marbled boards.
Binding features include:
Half navy morocco leather
Marbled paper-covered boards
Five raised spine bands
Decorative gilt spine tooling
Direct gilt lettering
Top edge gilt
Marbled endpapers
Original printed wrappers bound in
The binding is unsigned but is accomplished, attractive, and well suited to the imperial-octavo dimensions of the Large Paper issue.
PROVENANCE
With a dated pencil ownership inscription:
“Chas. G. Dill, May 10, 1899.”
The inscription places the volume in private ownership only fifteen years after publication and forms part of the copy’s individual history.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Author: William Makepeace Thackeray
Title: An Essay on the Genius of George Cruikshank
Editor: W. E. Church
Full title: An Essay on the Genius of George Cruikshank: Reprinted Verbatim from “The Westminster Review”
Place: London
Publisher: George Redway
Printer: G. Norman and Son
Date: 1884
Edition: First Redway edition; first edition in this expanded form
Issue: Publisher’s deluxe Large Paper issue
Format: Imperial octavo
Pagination: xvi, 60 pages, with publisher’s advertisements
Illustrations: Upwards of forty illustrations, including the original woodcuts
Frontispiece: Etched portrait of George Cruikshank by F. W. Pailthorpe, printed as an India proof and mounted
Binding: Half navy morocco leather over marbled boards
Edges: Top edge gilt
Original wrappers: Preserved and bound in
Provenance: “Chas. G. Dill, May 10, 1899”
CONDITION
Very Good to Near Fine overall.
The half navy morocco leather binding remains handsome and well preserved. The leather is supple and attractive, and the gilt spine decoration remains bright. The hinges are sound. The marbled boards and top edge gilt present well, with minor rubbing and handling wear consistent with age.
Internally, the substantial Large Paper stock is bright, crisp, and generally clean. The broad margins remain intact, and the numerous illustrations retain strong impressions.
The mounted India-proof portrait by F. W. Pailthorpe is present. There is a minor, stable separation at the lower gutter in the vicinity of the frontispiece, visible in the photographs. This does not affect the completeness of the volume or the portrait itself.
The original printed parchment-paper wrappers are preserved and bound in.
There is occasional light age-toning and a small number of minor scattered marks, but the volume remains a very attractive example of the scarce deluxe issue.
Please examine all photographs carefully, as they form an important part of the condition description.
COLLECTOR INTEREST
This copy offers appeal across several collecting fields:
George Cruikshank
William Makepeace Thackeray
Victorian illustrated books
British caricature and social satire
F. W. Pailthorpe etchings
Large Paper and deluxe editions
India-paper proofs
Original wrappers
Fine and decorative bindings
History of book illustration
Victorian art criticism
A particularly attractive collector’s copy of Thackeray’s classic appreciation of George Cruikshank, combining the publisher’s scarce Large Paper format, mounted India-proof portrait, original parchment-paper wrappers, more than forty illustrations, and an elegant half navy morocco leather binding.
