London: Published by Thomas McLean... Printed by W. Lewis, 1821. The Cornerstone of Every Great Henry Alken Collection
A Superb Contemporary Hand-Colored Copy in Straight-Grain Morocco
From the Library of Sir Walter Gilbey
ALKEN, Henry. The National Sports of Great Britain. London: Published by Thomas McLean, Repository of Wit and Humour, 1821.
First edition. Large folio (17 3/8 x 13 1/4 inches; 442 x 337 mm.). Engraved title and fifty beautifully hand-colored aquatint plates after Henry Alken. A few plates with the very occasional pale spot or trivial marginal mark, as almost invariably encountered. The contemporary hand-coloring exceptionally fresh and vibrant throughout.
Contemporary crimson straight-grain morocco, covers elaborately paneled in gilt and blind, spine richly gilt in compartments, gilt board edges and turn-ins, all edges gilt. A handsome and entirely appropriate contemporary binding.
Provenance: Sir Walter Gilbey (1831-1914), with his engraved armorial bookplate. A magnificent copy.
Henry Alken stands as the greatest sporting artist of the Regency period. No other nineteenth-century illustrator captured with such vitality the exhilaration, elegance, and occasional absurdity of the sporting life in Britain. Horses, hounds, riders, gamekeepers, fishermen, prizefighters, coachmen, and country gentlemen all come vividly to life through his energetic compositions, which remain unsurpassed for their accuracy of observation and extraordinary sense of movement.
Published in 1821 by Thomas McLean, the foremost sporting print publisher of the period, The National Sports of Great Britain is universally regarded as Alken's masterpiece and one of the supreme achievements of the English color-plate book. The work presents an unparalleled panorama of British sporting life during the Regency, illustrating not only fox-hunting, shooting, fishing, coursing, racing, coaching, cock-fighting, boxing, and falconry, but also many of the rural recreations and country pursuits that defined the social fabric of early nineteenth-century Britain.
The plates are among the finest sporting aquatints ever produced. Printed by the delicate aquatint process and finished entirely by hand, they possess an extraordinary richness and transparency of color that no later reproductive process has ever equaled. Alken's remarkable ability to depict horses in motion - whether charging across open country, clearing hedges, or standing quietly after the chase - established a standard against which sporting artists have been judged ever since. Every plate combines technical brilliance with a keen understanding of both landscape and animal anatomy, while the accompanying text provides lively commentary on each sport and its traditions.
Far more than a sporting book, The National Sports of Great Britain is an invaluable visual document of Regency England. It preserves in remarkable detail the clothing, equipment, customs, landscapes, and manners of a society that was already beginning to disappear under the pressures of industrialization. Few illustrated books provide so vivid and comprehensive a portrait of country life during the reign of George IV, making the work as important to social historians as it is to collectors of sporting art.
The present copy is distinguished by its exceptional state of preservation. The contemporary hand-coloring remains remarkably fresh and luminous throughout, retaining the subtle tonal gradations that characterize the finest examples of English color-plate printing. Particularly noteworthy is the handsome contemporary straight-grain morocco binding, executed to a standard worthy of the importance of the work itself. Such bindings were expensive commissions at the time of publication and are encountered far less frequently than later Victorian rebindings.
Its provenance further enhances its significance. This copy belonged to Sir Walter Gilbey, one of the foremost authorities on British sporting art and sporting literature. A successful entrepreneur, renowned horse breeder, philanthropist, and distinguished collector, Gilbey assembled one of the greatest libraries devoted to equestrian and sporting subjects ever formed. His ownership adds both scholarly and historical importance to an already exceptional copy.
Complete copies of The National Sports of Great Britain have become increasingly difficult to obtain in recent decades. Many examples were broken up during the twentieth century so that the individual plates could be framed and sold separately, while others have suffered fading, trimming, cleaning, or rebinding. Copies retaining brilliant original hand-coloring, housed in fine contemporary bindings, and possessing distinguished provenance are now of the greatest rarity.
One of the masterpieces of the English color-plate book, The National Sports of Great Britain remains the defining achievement of Henry Alken's career and one of the most beautiful sporting books ever published - a magnificent celebration of the landscape, traditions, and sporting life of Regency England.
Bobins II, 746; Dixon, 26; Mellon/Snelgrove 94; Schwerdt I, p.19 & IV, p. 4; Siltzer, P. 70; Tooley 41; Not in Abbey.
