Beschreibung:

THACKERAY, William Makepeace (1811-1863)] 'Théophile WAGSTAFF'. Flore et Zephyr Ballet mythologique [title on upper wrapper]. London and Paris: Graf & Soret for J. Mitchell and Rittner & Goupil, 1836. 2° (339 x 244mm). 8 mounted lithographic plates on india by Edward Morton after Thackeray, heightened with bodycolour, the plates interleaved with guards, extra-illustrated with 2 original drawings by Thackeray, the first in pen and ink depicting a female figure wearing a coronet in profile, with a crowd of onlookers in the background, 176 x 120mm., the second in pencil and pen and ink heightened in coloured inks and washes depicting an ?actor in 16th-century costume, 96 x 89mm., both mounted on card, the second captioned below the mount 'Drawn H.M Thrackery [ sic ]' and corrected in a second hand. (Scattered light spotting on mounts, not affecting plates.) Late 19th-century brown half crushed morocco by Zaehnsdorf, the plates mounted on guards and the original hand-coloured lithographic buff wrappers by Morton after Thackeray bound in, the plates and wrappers enclosed within 3 portfolio-style flaps (extremities rubbed, splitting on joints, a few marginal inkspots on the upper wrapper). Provenance : Frederic Robert Halsey (armorial bookplate on upper pastedown); W.W. Miller (sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 6-7 November 1940, lot 430). FIRST EDITION. A FINE AND LARGE COPY, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED WITH TWO ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY THACKERAY. This series of eight plates was issued without text or title, save that on the upper wrapper. The plates were probably published uncoloured, but van Duzer notes that 'most copies are slightly tinted', further stating that the plates in his copy - which measured 13½ x 9¾ inches (343 x 248mm.) - are 'as large or larger than any other copy that we have examined'. Van Duzer 69.