Human Passions Delineated: in Above 120 Figures, Droll, Satyrical and Humourous

Very good copy of the mid-19th century reprint of the Lancashire Hogarth's book of caricatures, originally published in 1773

Complete with portrait of the artist, engraved title page, and 44 engraved plates printed on 25 pages

The plates show quite an extraordinary parade of 18th century scenes in pubs, hairdressers, shops, dentists and living rooms. A drunk vomits into a bowl at a bar, a wife beats a husband, a demon steals from a preacher, ugly bumpkins gurn, drunken rustics brawl, foppish politicians read the Magna Carta, a judge molests a female witness, a barber fleeces a Macaroni, a sailor is cheated of his prize money, etc.

There are four plates of dentists using tongs and string to extract teeth from unhappy patients. There are even a few portraits of famous people: Lord Bute Pl. 17, diplomat John Russell, Duke of Bedford, in Pl. 18, botanists Daniel Solander and Joseph Banks with Plato in Pl. 20, and a group of rogues and scoundrels in the book trade in northern England and Scotland in Pl. 40.

With letter to subscribers and six pages of explanations of the plates at rear.

John Collier (1708-1786), English caricaturist and satirical poet known by the pseudonym of Tim or Timothy Bobbin, the self-styled "Lancashire Hogarth." A poor schoolmaster who married young and had nine children, Collier started producing illustrated satirical poetry to supplement his income. His first and most famous work, A View of the Lancashire Dialect appeared in 1746. He also drew portraits for money in pubs. His second collection Human Passions Delineated appeared in 1773. The etchings were widely reproduced, some printed on ceramics and a colourised reproduction published in 1810.

In original blindstamped blue-cloth binding, gilt title on front cover, edges and corners frayed and bumped, old paper price sticker on front, yellow endpapers starting at hinges. Interior clean and fresh, good impressions of the lithographs, a few fingersmudges and spots to a few pages.