Tim Bobbin's Human Passions Delineated in above 120 Figures, Droll, Satyrical, and Humerous : Design'd in the Hogarthian Style.
Manchester: John Keywood, Undated, c.1860. Reprint of the 1773 edition. Full Cloth. Good Condition. Item #375751
A riot of grotesques, drinkers, schemers, rustics, hypocrites, and wide-eyed innocents, Bobbin's work captures the full, unvarnished comedy of 18th century Lancashire life. Bobbin, real name John Collier, was a schoolmaster with a wicked eye for human folly, and these plates are his private theatre: Hogarthian in spirit, but rougher, earthier, and far more northern in their humour. What makes the book irresistible is its energy. Every face is pulled into some impossible contortion; every gesture is halfway between a joke and a confession. You can almost hear the muttered dialect, the tavern clatter, the sharp intake of breath before someone says something they shouldn't. Bobbin wasn't drawing polite society, he was drawing people as they actually behaved, and he does it with a kind of affectionate savagery. Victorian readers adored him. By the mid 19th century these plates were being reprinted for a new audience who saw in Bobbin a link to a vanishing world: the old Lancashire of alehouses, gossip, and broad humour, before industrialisation scrubbed the edges off everything. That’s why so many later editions, like this one, mix the original 1770s plates with extra favourites such as Scotch Politics or They Who Have Ears to Hear. The Victorians weren’t curators; they were enthusiasts, and they wanted more Bobbin for their money. Today the book stands as a wonderfully unruly document of popular art: part caricature, part social history, and part comic theatre. Later impressions from the original copperplates, printed on mid 19th century paper, likely c.1860, with plates bearing mixed imprints, "Publish'd as the Act directs June 1773" and “Printed and Published by John Heywood, Deansgate, Manchester". Bound in the original cloth, blind & gilt decorated as issued. The spine has been replaced a very long time ago, and there is some wear with a little surface loss near the foot. There is also loss to the top left of the front board. Water staining to bottom left edge throughout, but not impacting the images directly. Portrait frontis, engraved title page, 42 plates complete with tissue guards, subscribers dedication list, and plate explanation text pages. The plates are generally clean, with minor age related marks, but the tissue guards have done a nice job of keeping foxing away from the plates. A pleasing example in tall folio format of an increasingly uncommon book. Size: 27 x 42 cms. Category: Antiquarian & Rare; New Arrivals; This item may require more postage than the rates shown for delivery outside the UK. If extra postage is required we will contact you before processing your order and you will be given the details and option to decline the extra cost.
Keywords: BZDB395 Antiquarian & Rare; New Arrivals; Unbranded 18th CENTURY SATIRE : A RIOTOUS GALLERY OF LANCASHIRE GROTESQUES AND HOGARTHIAN MISCHIEF Tim Bobbin's Human Passions Delineated in above 120 Figures, Droll, Satyrical, and Humerous : Design'd in
Price: £195.00