Social Club, The

London: S. and J. Fuller, 1822. William Pyne's The Social Club
The Pyne Family Copy in the Original Parts
Most Likely the Finest Copy Extant

PYNE, William Henry. The Social Club: Consisting of a Series of Stories; and Accompanied by Humourous Prints of each Subject, Engraved and Coloured in Imitation of the Original Drawings, Made Expressly for the Work. The Drawings by W.H. Pyne, Esq. [Parts 1 - 4, all published]. London: S. and J. Fuller, 1822.

First edition. Title from front wrapper. Parts I-IV only (all published).

Large quarto (14 x 11 5/8 inches; 355 x 295 mm.). 26 pp. Twelve fine hand-colored aquatint plates by Smart & Hunt after W.H. Pyne. Text watermarked 1821. At head of title: "To be completed in twelve monthly numbers, forming one handsome volume."

Uncut in the original tan printed wrappers. Stabbed and sewn. With four copies of the original prospectus bound in (each one octavo page). Spines expertly repaired, front wrapper of Part I and rear wrapper of Part IV neatly repaired,
the inside wrapper of part one with just a few letters touched and on part IV with no text loss. A spectacular example of this extremely rare item - most likely the finest copy extant. Housed in a red cloth portfolio.

From the Pyne Family collection, with the armorial bookplate of H.B. Pyne on front pastedown of portfolio, and with an Autograph Note Signed by H.B. Pyne, dated 1941, laid in: "The Social Club. Some of the Original water colours of these are framed and hung in the landing upstairs. These I think ought to be kept in the Family (Pyne)."

Scarce, with only one copy at auction within the last eighty-six years ... (Bloomsbury, 2013 - bound).

OCLC & KVK locate just one example in libraries and universities worldwide: The British Library (UK).

Twelve satiric stories, each with an accompanying aquatint engraving:

1. A Thief in the Kirk
2. Cheap Meat
3. The Horse Without A Head
4. What Do You Think I Shave For A Drink
5. Obadiah and the Ambassador
6. Martin O'Rourke, The Wonderful Swimmer
7. Charity Kettering and the Frozen Dish-Clout
8. The Rape of the Roasted Goose
9. The Barber of Gosport Who Shaved Gratis
10. The Two Sailors at the Haunted Inn
11. Old Copper the Waterman and the Duke of Grafton
12. Whistling Dalmahoy and the Shads

William Henry Pyne (1769-1843) is primarily known for his work for R. Ackermann especially An "etcher and painter as well as a writer, though perhaps best known through the delightful gossip about art and artists, published under the name of Ephraim Hardcastle... He had an instinct for the different types of the working classes... Pyne received in the course of his long life abundant recognition, both at home and from foreign academies, but as an old man he lived in obscurity and neglect, and died after a long illness in 1843" (Prideaux).

Prideaux, p. 348, Not in Tooley or Abbey.