ALKEN, Samuel (1756-1815) - photo 1
ALKEN, Samuel (1756-1815) - photo 2
ALKEN, Samuel (1756-1815) - photo 3
ALKEN, Samuel (1756-1815) - photo 4

ALKEN, Samuel (1756-1815)

Lot 138
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 5 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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Archive
ID 1105626
Lot 138 | ALKEN, Samuel (1756-1815)
Estimate value
£ 5 000 – 7 500
ALKEN, Samuel (1756-1815)

Delineations of British Field Sports together with the Various Methods of Poaching. London: J. Hudson, 1822 [watermarked 1821].

First issue that ‘ranks as one of the rarest sporting books of the period.' (Schwerdt). Presenting 24 lithographs, accompanied by textual descriptions of each scene, Alken creates beautifully hand-coloured compositions of the British countryside, including three moonlit night scenes. Delineations is the only published work by the artist and was first issued in six monthly parts in wrappers (no copy known). Following this initial run a book was issued in two states: uncoloured on drab paper, a copy of this form housed in Mellon Collection; or the more luxurious issue with coloured lithographs on white paper, as seen here. Schwerdt notes that the vigorous style of these plates made them eminently suitable for framing, and accounts in part for their rarity; stating 'twenty years searching has not enabled us to make up a complete set'. Bobins IV, 1390; Mellon/Podeschi 115; Schwerdt I, pp.27-8; Siltzer, p.75.



Oblong folio (286 x 456mm). 24 lithographic plates, coloured by a contemporary hand (pencil annotation to title page, plate 1 faintly creased, minor tear to plate 22, scattered spotting). Modern red half morocco, the spine divided into six compartments by single fillets, lettered and decorated with flower-spray tools in gilt (boards with light scattered spotting, extremities lightly rubbed). Provenance: John Croft Deverell (bookplate) — C.F.G.R. Schwerdt (bookplate; his sale, Sotheby’s, May 22, 1939, lot 69, to;) — R. Gee (bookseller's invoice loosely inserted, made out to;) — Hugh Auchincloss.

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