Dr. Syntax In Paris, Or A Tour in search of the Grotesque, A Humorous & Satirical Poem. Printed by S. & R. Bentley for W. Wright and published in London by W. Wright
in London in 1820. This is a first edition, with eighteen hand-colored aquatint plates, including the frontispiece and the pictorial title page; all the plates of this rollicking Doctor Syntax spinoff were done by Charles Williams, who was a printsetter and chief caricaturist for S. W. Fores, a leading publisher in London, and the plates are as irreverent as the Rowlandson and James Gillray plates which inspired Williams.
The book has five raised bands, six compartments with gilt lettering, gilt devices with floral designs, and gilt-ruled borders for each compartment. and “Lond 1820” at the heel of the spine; there are triple-gilt fillet borders on red morocco, wide gilt dentelles with the bookplate of Harry Glemby on slate blue endpapers, a bookbinder’s mark from Piccadilly in London at the bottom of the first blank endpaper [Fartheron?], the hand-colored frontis of Doctor Syntax and the hand-colored vignette title page, followed by a six-page advertisement called “Advertisement, Episode, and Finale” and 318 pages of text, with an imprint that reads “Printed by S.& R. Bentley, Dorset-street, Fleet-street, London” at the bottom of page 318, and all the edges are gilt.
The first Doctor Syntax book was written by William Combe in 1812, and the bumbling Doctor became wildly popular and inspired a number of imitators, so no one really knows if Combe actually wrote this particular title. Some people believe he did, but his name does not appear anywhere in the text, and that is the problem here. The plates seem appropriate for a Doctor Syntax text, and the text might genuinely have been written by Combe, but no one really knows.
Charles Williams (1797 - 1830) was a British caricaturist, etcher and illustrator, and he worked in a style similar to Gillray’s. In his earlier works, Williams used the pseudonyms Ansell or Argus, and he worked with George Cruikshank and others to illustrate The Every-Day Book by William Hone (1825 - 26). He was also the first of many to draw caricatures of the Duke of Wellington, who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.
James Gillray (1756 - 1815) was a British caricaturist and printmaker famous for his political and social satires, and, along with Hogarth, was regarded as one of the two most influential cartoonists of his day.
Harry Glemby was a millionaire who made his fortune in the hairnet industry in the 1930’s, and his wife was attacked and their home robbed so many times they should have had a police station inside their home.
The book is 8vo. and measures 8 3/4 x 6 in. wide, the binding is tight, with light rubbing at the edges of the spine and at the tips, there are light brown spots on the frontispiece and colored title page, and the rest of the text and plates are very clean and bright. So an attractive first edition with all eighteen hand-colored plates that are called for, done by a noted artist in the Rowlandson School.