THE GUARDIAN

London: Printed by T. Gillet for Longman et al., 1797. 265 x 163 mm. (10 3/8 x 6 3/8"). Two volumes..
Contemporary green straight-grain morocco, covers with double gilt fillet border, raised bands, gilt titling, turn-ins with decorative gilt roll, marbled endpapers, all edge gilt (inexpert older repairs to joints). EACH VOLUME WITH RICHLY DETAILED FORE-EDGE PAINTING, that on volume I depicting the old "Tabard" Inn, Southwark, and that on volume II showing Furnival's Inn, Holborn. Housed in a fleece-lined double-compartment slipcase. Title pages with engraved vignette. Front flyleaf of each volume with ink ownership inscription of Mary Erskine dated 1803, noting it was a wedding gift from her cousin Lord Wodehouse, and with later ink presentation inscription to "Walter and Katherine" on their 13th wedding anniversary (17 February 1931) from "their mother, Kate Goodrich." ◆Spines faded to brown, as usual with green morocco, and with half a dozen minor abrasions, joints somewhat worn (front joint of vol. II with four-inch crack at head), but the bindings entirely solid, the contents clean and fresh with only insignificant imperfections, and the fore-edge paintings very well-preserved.

This is a charming pair of large fore-edge paintings depicting two historic London inns, each full of detail and painted on text blocks that fan out beautifully with very little effort. The text here is a late 18th century edition of a controversial and short-lived periodical known as "The Guardian," spearheaded by writer and politician Richard Steele (who also founded "The Tatler" and "The Spectator"). "The Guardian," as DNB relates, ran from 12 March to 1 October 1713 and "is chiefly remembered for the quality of the contributors on whom Steele drew, including Edward Young, George Berkeley, Alexander Pope, and of course [Joseph] Addison." The two inns depicted in the fore-edge paintings here also have literary credentials: the Tabard Inn in Southwark was chosen by Chaucer as the starting point for the "Canterbury Tales," and Furnival's Inn in Holborn will be known to Dickens enthusiasts as the place where he began writing the "Pickwick Papers." The original Tabard Inn burned down in the Great Fire, but was immediately rebuilt and became a popular stopping point for stagecoaches, as depicted in the present painting. The dirt road in front of the inn is dominated by a large covered wagon and team of horses, with a pair of men gesturing in the foreground and others idling nearby; Furnival's Inn, by contrast, was an Inn of the Chancery, and enjoyed much tidier surroundings: the streets in the fore-edge painting here are cobbled, the ladies and gentlemen are well dressed, and even the rubbish has been neatly piled to one side. Both paintings date from the late 19th century and are based on engravings found in "Old and New London" by George Walter Thornbury (ca. 1880). Though unsigned, they are extremely well done and offer wonderful views of London haunts from both sides of the Thames..