THE CHAPTER OF KINGS. Mr. Collins [John]. Publication Date: 1818 Condition: Poor

Title: THE CHAPTER OF KINGS.

Publisher: London: J[ohn], Harris.

Publication Date: 1818

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: Poor

Edition: 1st Edition

Coloured title page and 37 hand-coloured illustrations (this was also issued without hand-colouring in a plain edition), each having text above and below. Text and illustrations engraved on one side of paper only. The lines at the bottom of each page are a rhyming summary of the kings of England and a brief account of highlights of the ruler's reign. The final two leaves missing but supplied in colour reproduction. All leaves showing cumulated patina from use, with noticeable thumbing, creasing, rubbing, browning and staining. This is an early issue, with the title-page giving the 1818 date of the first edition and the watermarks most probably reading 1822 (see page 16, although truncated by page placement). Later endpapers. 11 x 13.5 cm. New sympathetic quarter red roan over original printed boards. Spine has gold fillets in gilt & title "Kings". Engraving of the J. Harris shop, Juvenile Library, to the upper, board and note on the rear cover: "Parents and Teachers must have remarked the difficulty Children experience in recollecting the Succession of the English Monarchs, and likewise how much the memory is assited by rhyme" seriously rubbed, worn and torn at edges rendering it illegible. This entertaining small book contains short snippets of information about the reigns, or fateful feats, of English monarchs from Edward Ironside to George IV (here as Prince of Wales) & veers from savage satire to idealized adoration, offering a refreshingly irreverent overview of British rulers. Moon points out that it was re-issued many times without change of date, but on later watermarked paper. Moon, John Harris's Books for Youth, 151; Osborne Collection, p. 162; Opie D 37 (this issue not given in their sequences). WorldCat locates nine copies in the UK. Seller Inventory # 5179