STURGESS, JOHN (ILLUSTRATOR), HENRY CHARLES F. SOM♕ERSET, DUKE OF BEAUFORT, AND MOWBRAY MORRIS 

HUNTING ... [VOLUME ONE OF THE BADMINTON LIBRARY OF SPORTS AND PASTIMES]. LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO., 1885

Large 8vo (9 3/8 x 7 1/8 in.; 238 x 181 mm). Numerous illustrations, including one coloured plate, after J. Sturgess and J. Charlton, extra-illustrated with 28 original drawings by Sturgess. Contemporary red morocco by Rivere & Son, arms of the Duke of Beaufort on covers enclosed by a single fillet with stirrups and hunting horns at corners, with motif of horse shoes in the outer panel, spine with raised bands in six compartments, second and third gilt lettered, others with sporting motifs in each, top edge gilt, inner dentelles gilt, blue paper endpa🌌pers. House in cloth slipcase.

Number 60 of 250 copies — the rare large paper copy, bound by Riviere and extra-illustrated with original drawings by Sturgess for illustrations within the book

Dedicated to the Prince of Wales, The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes, was a sporting and publishing project conceived and founded by Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort. Between 1885 and 1896, it developed into a series of 28 separately published sporting books which aimed to cover comprehensively all the major sports and pastimes, with some additional volumes on new sports (includin👍g football and motoring) published subsequently. The work was issued in three forms: a standard trade edition bound in cloth, a deluxe edition identical to the trade edition but bound in half morocco, and the present large-paper deluxe edition limited to 250 numbered copies.

Sturgess was a noted hunting and racing artist who worked mainly for the Illustrated London News between 1875 and 1885, and 𒊎exhibited widely in the London galleries, including the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Hibernian Society in Dublin. His lively original illustrations, however, are seldom encountered.

A lovely, unique copy of a noted sporting book

PROVENANCE:

M.C.D. Borden (armorial bookpl🔥ate) — Joel Spitz (bookplate)&nbs꧅p;