The Comic History of England: with Twenty Coloured Etchings, and Two Hundred Woodcuts by John Leech (Two Volumes bound in One) by A'Beckett, Gilbert Abbott - N.D.

London: Bradbury, Agnew, & Co.. Near Fine with no dust jacket. N.D.. Reprint. 1. Leather. Beautifully bound in burgundy half leather over marbled boards, spine in six compartments separated by raised bands, gilt lettering in two compartments, elaborate gilt tooling in the remainder, blind-stamped borders on covers, marbled endpapers, all edges marbled. nd (c. 1864). Profusely illustrated with 20 colored etchings and 200 woodcuts by John Leech. Gilbert Abbott à Beckett (1811-1856) was an English humorist, lawyer and writer. He was born in London and belonged to a family claiming descent from Thomas Becket. He was educated at Westminster School and was called to the bar at Gray's Inn in 1841. He edited the comic paper "Figaro in London" and was one of the original staff of "Punch" and a contributor until his death. He was an active journalist on "The Times" and "The Morning Herald," contributed a series of light articles to "The Illustrated London News," conducted in 1846 "The Almanack of the Month" and found time to produce some fifty or sixty plays, among them dramatized versions of Charles Dickens's shorter stories, written in collaboration with Mark Lemon. He is perhaps best known as the author of "Comic History of England," "Comic History of Rome," "Comic Blackstone," etc. He wrote the book for two operas with music composed by his wife Mary Anne à Beckett (née Glossop), "Agnes Sorrel" and "Red Riding Hood." John Leech’s "humor is as keen, his sense of fun as marked [as George Cruikshank’s] [Leech’s pictures] are of the most graphic and mirth-producing kind, and yet the raillery is invariably good-humored" (DNB). . The volume is in excellent condition, unmarked, tight, square and clean, with only one minor chip on the spine, and very modest shelf-wear. NEAR FINE. . Color Engravings and B&W Woodcuts. 8vo 8" - 9" tall. xviii, 320, 304 pp .