1801

INFANTILE SPORTS – Original watercolor drawings of children’s games, inlaid into album leaves opposite engraved proofs after the drawings. [London, 1801.]

A charming album includes drawings and their corresponding engravings which were probably made for a broadside picture sheet. The children—with plump cheeks, bonnets and lacy collars—are engaged in the games of “Blindman’s Buff,” “Marbles,” “Leap Frog,” “The Mask,” “Flying Kite,” “Whip Top,” “Peg Top,” “Doll Dressing,” “Feeding Chickens,” “Raree Show,” and “Chucking Dumps.” The last plate is “no. 70,” but the others are captioned in ink over pencil and all unnumbered.

Oblong octavo (155 x 247mm). Comprising one large watercolor (113 x 205mm sheet) and ten smaller watercolors (approx. 85 x 70mm sheets), plus a watercolor decorative panel beneath which is inscribed, “Published November 1801 by Laurie & Whittle, Fleet Street, London.” Later polished calf, all edges gilt (front cover detached). Provenance: “A Highly Important Collection of Children’s Books,” Sotheby’s, 17 October 1975, lot 1338.