Home / Browse / Illustrated / Life of Napoleon, A Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantoes by Dr. Syntax,
(CRUIKSHANK, George) [COMBE, William]
Life of Napoleon, A Hudibrastic Poem in Fifteen Cantoes by Dr. Syntax,
embellished with Thirty Engravings …
First edition, with all points as called for in Abbey. A satirical life of Buonaparte, its intentions best summed up by the allegorical title page, which shows the young Corsican as a revolutionary fire-brand in a Phrygian cap ascending a ladder whose rungs are Plunder, Bloodshed and Murder, this last being the blade of a guillotine. At the top he sits in ermine astride the globe, before being cast off, scattering his treasure as he goes, to end huddled in exile.
Octavo (225 × 147 mm). Later red full crushed morocco, by Larkins, gilt panels with stylized fleur-de-lys cornerpieces to the boards, spine gilt in compartments, inner gilt dentelles, maroon surface-paper endpapers, gilt edges. Hand-coloured engraved title page and 29 similar plates. Light browning, some soiling, particularly to the title page, one leaf torn without loss and carefully repaired, very lightest of shelf-wear, a very pretty copy.
