Ackermann's Sporting Scraps

London: Rudolph Ackermann, 1850. One of the Rarest of all Henry Alken's Albums

ALKEN, Henry. [Ackermann's Sporting Scraps]. London: Rudolph Ackermann, February 20th. 1850 - March 13th. 1861.

First edition. Oblong quarto (8 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches; 214 x 273 mm.). Thirty-six superb hand colored aquatint plates, heightened with gum arabic, by J.Harris after H. Alken, W.J. Shayer, and W.A. Knell.

Bound ca. 1900 by J. Larkins in full tan calf, covers with triple-gilt borders and corner fleurons. Spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt board edges and turn-ins, purple coated endpapers, all edges gilt. Neatly rebacked with original spine laid down. Small neat repair to lower edge of front cover. A few plates with light marginal foxing, Steeple Chase Scraps plate 2 a little foxed. A very good copy of an exceedingly rare book.

Fine impressions of the Henry Alken plates. Twenty-eight out of the thirty-six being by him. It includes the best plates from Ackermann's famous publications...

A fine collection of skillfully rendered sporting scenes, splendidly characteristic of the humor and unrivaled talent of Henry Alken (1785-1851) who drew twenty-eight of the thirty-six plates. These small format aquatints are quite scarce, especially with such fine hand-coloring, and are only mentioned very infrequently in the relevant literature.

Excessively Rare. According to OCLC there is just one copy in libraries and institutions worldwide: The Huntington Library (CA, USA). The note from OCLC reads "Title from label on inside front cover./ Plates colored by hand./ The plates are mostly in groups of four and cover the following subjects: hunting, racing, coaching, coursing, shooting, steeple-chase, Indian sporting, fishing, deer stalking, stag-hunting, and yachting./ Four plates on coaching by W.J. Shayer; four on yachting by W.A. Knell; remainder by Alken./ Engraved by J. Harris."

The plates:

R. Ackermann's Hunting Scraps (dated March 13th. 1861)
1. Drawing Cover
2. Gone Away
3. Full Cry
4. The Death
R. Ackermann's Racing Scraps (dated April 27th. 1850)
1. Training
2. Preparing to Start
3. Started
4. The Race
Ackermann's Coaching Scraps (dated March 20th. and April 20th. 1854)
1. The Wet Morning
2. Springing 'em
3. The Rivals
4. The Time Keeper
R. Ackermann's Steeple Chase Scraps (dated February 20th. 1850)
1. Getting away - Now for the front
2. The Brook
3. The Stone wall and double fence
4. The last Struggle
R. Ackermann's Indian Sporting Scraps (dated April 9th. 1850)
1. Beating for a Boar
2. Raising the Boar from his lair
3. Charging the Boar
4. The wounded Boar Charging
R. Ackermann's Shooting Scraps (dated June 10th. 1850)
1. Going out
2. The Point
3. The Shot
4. Down Charge
R. Ackermann's Coursing Scraps (dated June 12th. 1850)
1. Going Out
2. Soho
3. The Course
4. The Death
R. Ackermann's Fishing Scraps (dated July 15th. 1850)
Trout Fishing
R. Ackermann's Deer-Stalking Scraps (dated July 12th. 1850)
Taking the Stag
R. Ackermann's Stag Hunting Scraps (dated July 12th. 1850)
Taking the Stag
R. Ackermann's Shooting Scraps (dated July 15th. 1850)
Flacker Shooting
R. Ackermann's Yachting Scraps (dated April 20th. 1850)
1. Running off the wind
2. The Sapphire
3. Yachts on a wind
4. The Bianca Schooner Yacht

Bobins III, 1168; Siltzer, pp. 65-67; Not in Abbey, Dixon, Snelgrove/Mellon or Tooley.