THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD; A Tale by Doctor Goldsmith

THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD; A Tale by Doctor Goldsmith, (Illustrated with 24 Designs by Thomas Rowlandson) is a novel by Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith (1728–1774). It was written from 1761 to 1762 and first published in 1766. It was one of the most popular and widely read novels among Victorians.

This Second Edition copy of the book, a reissue of the 1817 edition, was published in 1823 in London by R. Ackerman at The Repository of Arts and printed by W. Clowes of Northumberland Court. It is illustrated with 24 hand-colored aquatints by Thomas Rowlandson. The book, which measures approximately 6 x 9 ½ inches, contains 254 numbered pages of text, followed by the 24 illustrated plates. The book is bound in a lovely three-quarter red morocco binding with a hubbed spine and gilt stamping and lettering – the title label being gilt on green leather and the author title being gilt on tan leather. Other than a closed tear in one of the illustrated plates and some rubbing along the edges of the covers, the book is near fine condition.

The illustrations accompanying this description show the book's covers, the Title page, the first page of the story, and two typical illustrated plates.

Oliver Goldsmith (10 November 1728 – 4 April 1774) was an Anglo-Irish novelist, playwright and poet, who is best known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), his pastoral poem The Deserted Village (1770), and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man (1768) and She Stoops to Conquer (1771, first performed in 1773). He is thought to have written the classic children's tale The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765). [Wikipedia]

Thomas Rowlandson, (1756 - 1827), English painter and caricaturist who illustrated the life of 18th-century England and created comic images of familiar social types of his day, such as the antiquarian, the old maid, the blowsy barmaid, and the Grub Street hack. His characters ranged from the ridiculously pretentious, with their elaborate coiffures, widely frogged uniforms, and enormous bosoms and bottoms, to the merely pathetic, whose trailing handkerchiefs expressed their dejected attitudes. [Britannica]