Illustrated by JOHN LEECH
Published: 1854
Publisher: Bradbury, Agnew & Co, Bouverie Street
First Edition (Presumed)
Red Cloth Covered Boards, with Black Titling and Illustrations
Dimensions: 9” x 6”
Pages: 548
Frontispiece by Michael Handley
17 Colour Engravings on Steel by John Leech
84 Engravings on Wood
Robert Smith Surtees (1805-1864) was a country gentleman, born into a family of landowners in County Durham. He inherited his love of hunting from his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, all of whom kept a pack of hounds. After a happy-go-lucky childhood, in 1822 he was articled to a solicitor in Newcastle. Three years later he went to London to continue his legal training. Although he found the law intolerable, he was able to spend the weekends hunting.
By 1828, he had begun writing articles for the Sporting Magazine, and in 1831 he joined Rudolph Ackermann in founding its rival, The New Sporting Magazine: Surtees was its first editor and chief hunting correspondent. In the same year, Surtees' unmarried elder brother died, leaving him unexpectedly the heir to the family's considerable estate.
HANDLEY CROSS, or MR. JORROCKS HUNT, tells the story of A great comic character, on a par with the creations of Dickens, Jorrocks is a self made Cockney grocer with a penchant for fox hunting. Of irrepressible high spirits, the garrulous Jorrocks is a rough diamond. This Rabelaisian novel recounts his muddling adventures as an amateur huntsman who comes to the up and coming spa town of Handley Cross to take over its pack of hounds for a season, having been pinpointed for the task on account of his wealth and the fame of his exploits out hunting with 'the Surrey'. A man with few social pretensions, he is flattered to be the MFH but at the same time self possessed enough to know why he has been targeted. Never short of cod maxims, catchphrases and blunt wisdom, as he says himself, 'I'm a sportsman all over, and to the backbone. - 'Unting is all that's worth living for - all time is lost wot is not spent in 'unting - it is like the hair we breathe ...'
The book has some wear and buffeting commensurate with age – Mainly to the spine, which needs restoration – Please see photos.
Internally
the book has some light wear commensurate with its age.
- There
is an owners name written neatly on fly-leaf
- The title page has
a hand written dedication, dated 1879
- There are a couple of
sections with signs of some fairly light stress to the hinges.
apart
from which it is in good internal condition with the
absolutely gorgeous prints still retaining relatively vibrant
colours.
Happy bidding!
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