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[Combe, William] : [The Three Tours of Doctor Syntax]The Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of the Picturesque. A poem. 1812. [With:] The Second Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of Consolation; A poem. 1820. [And:] The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of a Wife. A poem

R. Ackermann, London, V.d. [1812, 1820 & [1821]

Three vols. 8vo. (9 x 5 1/2 inches), full burgundy chagrin morocco with double gilt fillet borders on the covers; spine with five raised bands and gilt titling within two of the six compartments, barely lightened; board edges gilt, inner gilt dentelles, a.e.g. Signed by Riviere & Son on the verso of the marbled free endleaf.First edition of all three volumes. The Tour is the second issue with the text beginning with “Canto I” not “Chapter I, and with the second state of Pl. 5 with the girl’s right arm bent not straight. First issue of The Second Tour with the title to Pl. 15 in the uncorrected state: “Skimerton” not “Skimmington.” Some typical light offsetting from plates to text, a clean tear in plate two, “Dr. Syntax Soliloquising,” in The Third Tour, expertly repaired; otherwise a very nice copy.Combe's first Dr. Syntax book and its successors, The Second Tour of Dr. Syntax ,In Search of Consolation , and The Third Tour…in Search of a Wife , satirize the many 18th and early 19th century writers whose 'Tours', 'Travels', and 'Journeys', were vehicles for sententious moralizing, uninspired raptures, and sentimental accounts of amorous adventures. The popularity of Combe's work owed much to the illustrations of Thomas Rowlandson. Combe and Rowlandson also collaborated on The English Dance of Death , which contains some of Combe's best verse.See: Abbey, Life, 266 and 267. Tooley 427, 428, and 429.

Nicely Bound Set with 78 Hand Colored Aquatints

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