The Gentleman in Black.

[DALTON, James]. Illustrated by George Cruikshank.

$350.00

Item Number: 133421

London: William Kidd, 1831.

First edition of Dalton’s The Gentleman in Black. Octavo, bound in three quarter navy morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, illustrated with an engraved frontispiece and four engraved plates by George Cruikshank. In near fine condition. A handsome example.

Praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his lifetime, British caricaturist and book illustrator George Cruikshank illustrated numerous works for close friend Charles Dickens including Sketches by Boz (1836), The Mudfog Papers (1837–38) and Oliver Twist (1838). He also illustrated Memoirs of Joseph Grimaldi (1838), which Dickens edited under his regular nom de plume, "Boz". Cruikshank even acted in Dickens's amateur theatrical company.