INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF JOSEPH GRIMALDI.

UK,slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn.FINE/FINE-.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj - absence of a publisher's price - generally believed to be an export copy,which usually precedes that country's trade edn issues and distribution.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,colour pictorial artwork by Patricia Neville,illustrated front panel of dw/dj,with white lettering; with negligible shelf-wear,bumping or creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present.A small abrasion to front lower,right-hand corner of dw/dj with some minimal loss of coloured paper.Top edges of boards roughed - a production fault (?),top edges lightly dust-soiled,fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight, clean,solid and sound - virtually pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright, crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain dark cloth boards with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip and immaculate plain white endpapers.UK,slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn,5-61pp [paginated] includes an introduction,13 incidents from Grimaldi's life and an [unpaginated] postscript,part,full,3/4- page and double-paged full colour illustration by Patricia Neville interspersed throughout the text and the book; plus [unpaginated] half-title page,colour vignette illustrated title page and pp62-4 also unpaginated.Uncommon as most copies were exported.
Joseph Grimaldi was revered in his time for bringing to the London stage a unique comic genius that filled to capacity the vast old Covent Garden Theatre night after night for months on end.The precursor for Charlie Chaplin,Marcel Marceau and Danny Kaye,Grimaldi's extraordinary hold on audiences lasted for thirty years - from the time of the French Revolution until after the death of George III,which brought to an end the Regency period - and yet he never once performed in public beyond the shores of the British Isles.A close friend of Lord Byron and the subject of a biography by Charles Dickens,Grimaldi remained in private life an endearing and modest eccentric who preferred the homely comforts of happily-married family life to the high society and wayward adventures into which he was inextricably drawn. For five years,the painter Patricia Neville has made a close study of Grimaldi and his times and has produced some fifty pictures based on incidents in his life. To complement many of the most enchanting of her paintings,collected together for the first time in this book,her son,Giles Neville,recounts with grace and wit the stories that best illustrate the great clown's lovable character.Indeed,the whole book provides not only a feast to the eye but also a hilarious and perceptive commentary on English style and manners in the early nineteenth century. Since April 2013,again in March 2015,and in this year too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering it's prices, weight allowances,dimensions and lowered it's qualifying compensation rates too!
So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight and the value of this item, for correct,insured (where necessary) shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!