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Combe, William (Author?- in imitation of) & G[eorge] Cruikshank (Illustrator).. The life of Napoleon, a Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos, by Doctor Syntax, embellished with Thirty Engravings by G. Cruikshank.. London, Printed for T. Tegg, III, Cheapside, Wm.Allason, 31 New Bond Street & J. Dick, Edinburgh.Plummer and Brewis, Printers, Love Lane, Eastcheap., 1815.

Price: US$649.77 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: FIRST EDITION. Engraved, aquatint hand-coloured title-page, with reverse blank, [1]-260 (with these pages mis-numbered: 107 for 109, 211 for 121 & 186 for 187). With 30 hand-colored aquatint plates by Cruikshank, including vignette title depicting scenes of Napoleon's rise and fall (Original hand-coloured aquatint etchings over 200 years old!). Text watermarked 1813 & 1814. On plate 14 (facing p.94), the word "Siege" is misprinted "Seige" and on plate 26 (facing p.233), the word "Leipsic" is misprinted "Liepsic". Nine leaves and three plates with historic repairs mainly to their margins. Offsetting, browning & foxing proliferate. Text block with old ink stain that failed to penetrate the books inner margins. Some titles to plates bound tightly into the gutter. However hand-coloured aquatints remain bright. 14.5 x 23 cm. Vintage (1924-59) half calf binding, with black leather label, lettered R.S.M. in gilt at foot of spine. Some handling wear & corners very slightly bumped. The Life of Napoleon, originally issued in fifteen weekly parts (from November 10,1814) is a Hudibrastic poem depicting fictional events from the life of Napoleon Bonaparte, portraying the French statesman's military actions in a largely negative light (Napoleon is depicted as an egoist, murderer & tyrant). George Cruikshank (1792-1878) was a British caricaturist & illustrator, who famously executed the book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens. The text is now considered NOT to be by Combe, but the real author is unknown. William Combe, who claimed to author this poem under the pseudonym "Dr. Syntax", was a British writer known for a miscellany of work, which included several satires and comical poems. A Hudibrastic poem, named after Samuel Butler's 17th century poem Hudibras, was a type of mock-heroic verse written in iambic tetrameter and most often used for satire. This first edition was published in the same year as Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and was followed by a later edition in 1817. Abbey Life, 356. Cohn, 153. Martin Hardie, 196. Prideaux, 322. Reid, 4651. Tooley, 151.

Seller: Jason Burley, Camden Lock Books, ABA, ILAB & IOBA, London, United Kingdom

(COMBE, William. George Cruikshank). Life of Napoleon, a Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos, by Doctor Syntax, embellished with Thirty Engravings by G. Cruikshank. Printed for T. Tegg, III, Cheapside [et al.], London, 1815.

Price: US$650.00 + shipping

Condition: Good

Description: First edition. Octavo. 260pp. Illustrated with 30 hand colored aquatint plates (including the engraved title page), designed by George Cruikshank. Bound by Root & Son in polished calf, gilt decorated spine with two leather titling labels, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers. From the library of Paul Steinbrecher with his bookplate on the front flyleaf. Both covers have been re-jointed, one-inch paper repair at top right corner of engraved title page, else very good with some toning and light scattered foxing. An attractive copy with bright, hand-colored plates.

Seller: Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. ABAA, Gloucester City, NJ, U.S.A.

[COMBE, William]. The Life of Napoleon, a Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos, by Doctor Syntax. T. Tegg, London, 1815.

Price: US$750.00 + shipping

Description: 8vo. 30 hand-colored engraved plates, including illustrated title-page, by George Cruikshank. 260 pp. Contemporary tree calf, rebacked to style; some foxing and offsetting REFERENCE: Cohn 153; Tooley 151

Seller: Bull's Head Rare Books, ABAA, ILAB, Lebanon, NJ, U.S.A.

William Combe / George Cruikshank (ill). The Life of Napoleon, a Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos, by Doctor Syntax. T. Tegg, 1815.

Price: US$775.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: "The Life of Napoleon, a Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos, by Doctor Syntax" by William Combe and illustrated by George Cruikshank. 1815 first UK edition, hand-coloured aquatint pictorial title and 29 plates by George Cruikshank, plates lightly browned, text foxed and with offsetting from plates, a few with nick to fore-edge, modern morocco-backed marbled boards, slight worming to head of joints,[Abbey, Life 356; Cohn 153; Tooley 151], T.Tegg, [1815]; Very nice copy.

Seller: Neverland Books, waalre, Netherlands

(NAPOLEON) COMBE, William. The Life of Napoleon, A Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos, by Doctor Syntax. T. Tegg, London, 1815.

Price: US$1250.00 + shipping

Description: 8vo. 30 hand-colored aquatints, including illustrated title-page, by George Cruikshank. 260 pp. Full crushed red morocco gilt, a.e.g., by Riviere & Son; expertly rebacked, light offsetting from plates. Book-plate First edition of this early George Cruikshank-illustrated work, with mispaginations on pp. 83, 109, 121, 187 and 253 and two plates with captions misspelled. Plates 14 and 15 bound in reverse orderREFERENCE: Cohn 153; Tooley 151

Seller: Bull's Head Rare Books, ABAA, ILAB, Lebanon, NJ, U.S.A.

CRUIKSHANK, George (illus.); COMBE, William.. Life of Napoleon, A Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantoes by Dr. Syntax, embellished with Thirty Engravings.. London: Printed for T. Tegg, Wm Allason, & J. Dick, Edinburgh, 1815, 1815.

Price: US$1267.06 + shipping

Description: First edition of Cruikshank's biting satire of Napoleon's life, charting in 30 plates his journey from his dreams of domination in military college to his final exile in Elba - apparently published before his return in the Hundred Days. Throughout the book, Napoleon is depicted as tyrant, murderer, and egotist. The accompanying text is attributed to William Combe, the creator of Dr Syntax, but this is perhaps spurious. The intentions of both artist and author are best summed up by the allegorical title page, which shows the young Corsican as a revolutionary fire-brand in a Phrygian cap ascending a ladder whose rungs are Plunder, Bloodshed and Murder, this last being the blade of a guillotine. At the top he sits in ermine astride the globe, before being cast off, scattering his treasure as he goes, to end huddled in exile. Abbey 356 (with the relevant points of first edition); Cohn 153; Tooley 151. Octavo (229 x 141 mm). Early 20th-century red morocco by W. Root & Son, rebacked with original spine laid down, spine lettered in gilt, compartments decorated with Napoleonic bees and eagles and his crowned initial, the latter device repeated as cornerpieces to covers accompanying ruled frame, gilt turn-ins, pink marbled endpapers. Hand-coloured engraved title page and 29 similar plates; bound with tissue guards. A little rubbed, occasional very light spotting to contents: a handsome copy.

Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom

[Combe, William]. Illustrated by George Cruikshank [Napoleon Bonaparte]. The Life of Napoleon, A Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos, by Doctor Syntax.. Printed for T. Tegg, M. Cheapside, Wm. Allason, London, 1815.

Price: US$1800.00 + shipping

Description: First edition, mixed state ofÂCombe's satirical verses on the career of NapoleonÂBonaparte, illustrated with plates by George Cruikshank. Octavo, bound in full crushed crimson levant morocco by Root & Son with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, triple gilt ruling and central Napoleonic imperial eagle to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and wide gilt and stamp-signed inner dentelles, top edge gilt, watered silk endleaves, illustrated with a hand-colored engraved and aquatint frontispiece, hand-colored engraved and aquatint vignette title-page, and 28 hand-colored engravings with aquatint by George Cruikshank. In near fine condition. A very handsome binding. This verse biography of Napoleon has been attributed to William Combe, famous in his day as the author of the ‘tours’ of Doctor Syntax, but is more likely by an anonymous writer seeking to exploit Combe’s success. It was illustrated with thirty engravings by the young George Cruikshank, whose career as a graphic satirist up to that point had been punctuated by repeated abusive caricatures of Napoleon. The engravings follow Napoleon’s progress from his time at military college to his abdication in 1814, and dwells particularly on the massacres, murders, and other iniquities with which his name was associated in Britain. The series of prints concludes with a sunset view of the former Emperor disembarking on Elba in 1814; at the time of publication it would have been seen as marking the final episode in Napoleon’s story.

Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.

Combe, William. & George Cruikshank.. The Life of Napoleon, a Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantos By Doctor Syntax, Embellished with Thirty Engravings By G. Cruikshank.. T. Tegg, III, Cheapside, Wm Allason, 1815., 1815.

Price: US$2580.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: 31 New Bond Street & J. Dick, Edinburgh, 1815; Plummer and Brewis, Printers, Love Lane, Eastcheap. 250p. with 30 Color Engravings by George Cruikshank. Decorated brown leather in cloth covered slipcase. Recent Bookplate. Fine Copy

Seller: Military Books, Washington, DC, U.S.A.

Combe, William. The Life of Napoleon, A Hudibrastic Poem. London:, T. Tegg,, 1815.

Price: US$3500.00 + shipping

Condition: Fine

Description: "The life of Napoleon, a Hudibrastic poem in fifteen cantos, by Doctor Syntax [pseud.] embellished with thirty engravings by G. Cruikshank." Aquatint title page and 29 additional full color plates by Cruikshank. 260pp. Bound in full, blue crushed morocco gilt elaborately tooled and lettered in gilt. George Cruikshank (27 September 1792 1 February 1878) was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience. A rare book in magnificent condition. Size: 8vo.

Seller: Quaker Hill Books, Redding, CT, U.S.A.