Cocoa-Table Book

[Alf layla wa-layla - English]. The Adventure Of Hunch-Back, and the Stories Connected With It (From The Arabian Nights Entertainments).

London, printed for William Daniell by Thomas Davison, 1814.

Folio (330 x 413 mm). (2), 99, (1) pp. With 17 India-proof mounted engravings with tissue guards. Contemporary half calf over marbled boards with blind-and gilt-tooled ornamentation, spine recently rebacked.

 2.000,00

First separate edition: the story of the Hunchback from "The Arabian Nights' Entertainment", in the translation by the Rev. Edward Foster initially published in 1802, with engravings by William Daniell (1769-1837) after paintings by Robert Smirke (1752-1845). "What Brian Alderson has called the 'cocoa-table book' formula was applied to the 'Nights' as early as 1814, when William Daniell's 'The Adventure of Hunch-back' appeared, a handsome selection from Forster's adult version (Wiliam Miller, 1802, repr. 1810) intended as a juvenile complement to the adult book. The latter was produced in a small as well as large format, but, with their magnificent engravings by, among others, William Daniell from Robert Smirke's paintings, all three publications must have been beyond the pocket of most readers" (Caracciolo).

Some brownstaining and foxing throughout.

Literatur

Chauvin V, p. 181 (& cf. IV, p. 92, no. 239). Caracciolo, Arabian Nights In English Literature (1988), p. 39, with illustration (fig. 3). OCLC 2925884.

Art.-Nr.: BN#49327 Schlagwörter: , , ,