BARNABAE ITINERARIUM, OR BARNABEE'S JOURNAL

London: Printed for J. Harding by R. and A. Taylor, 1818. Seventh Edition (stated), Eighth Edition (according to Wither to Prior). 175 x 102 mm. (6 7/8 x 4"). 143, [1], 204 pp.
Handsome contemporary straight-grain green morocco attributed to Thomas Gosden, covers ruled in gilt and with lacy blind-rolled border, central panel with overlaid rectangle and diamond shapes ruled in gilt, raised bands, compartments densely gilt with acorns and oak leaves on a stippled ground, gilt lettering, gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt. Housed in a green cloth drop-back box, gilt lettering on spine (a little fraying along back, but in very good condition), With frontispiece and seven engraved plates. Front pastedown with bookplate of T. Gosden. With three old catalogue descriptions laid in. Wither to Prior 85. For the binder: Hobson, "English Bindings in the Library of J. R. Abbey," 107-108; Nixon, "Five Centuries," 88; Ramsden, p. 73; Howe, p. 41. ◆Frontispiece a little foxed, minor offsetting from plates, but these issues all quite trivial; AN ESPECIALLY FINE COPY with remarkably clean text and in a lovely unrestored contemporary binding showing virtually no wear.

This humorous travel tale of a "maudlin drunkard" comes in a binding attributed to Thomas Gosden (1780-1843), a versatile craftsman whose work, says Hobson, "is quite unlike anything done by his contemporaries." Gosden was also a publisher, artist, and book collector, the last of these reflected here with the presence of his bookplate on the front pastedown. He is best known for his bindings on sporting and angling books. Hobson highlights his "versatility and independence," and notes that he was the first English binder to use blind-stamped portrait panels. We know that straight-grain green morocco was a favorite material of Gosden, and Hobson indicates that the presence of Gosden's bookplate normally suggests that he was the binder as well as the owner. First printed in 1638, this record of English travel, written in doggerel, is the best known book by Brathwaite (1587/8-1673), who produced a large number of works of varying merit over a long literary lifetime (he appears in "Wither to Prior" an astonishing 49 times). The book, which in various editions has been entitled "Drunken Barnaby's Four Journeys to the North of England," seems to be a piece of mingled fact and fiction. It details the journeys of a "maudlin-drunkard" who has something interesting to say about every city or town he visits, from Islington to Giggleswick. In the words of DNB, "It is a remarkable example of the trend for topographical writings in the 1630s, but in its rollicking style it also prefigures some of the picaresque novels of the eighteenth century." Because Gosden bindings are often on books about sports, they frequently would have been used in less well-protected settings, making his volumes now difficult to find in excellent shape. Our binding is a notable exception, being in a remarkable state of preservation, and the condition of the contents here is as fine as one could hope for..