Hogarth, William (1697 London 1764). S^r. Hudibras his passing worth / The manner how he sally’d forth. The chief important departure of the knight Hudibras – the English Don Quixote – and his shield-bearer to great actions, bowed by a farmer going to field, in doing so overthrowing the stand of a market woman, who is alone frightened already at sight of the pair. Engraving by Thomas Cook (ca. 1744 – London 1818). Inscribed: Plate 2. / Design’d by W. Hogarth. / Engraved by T. Cook. / Published December 1^st. 1801, by G & J. Robinson Paternoster Row London., otherwise as before + 4 four-lined stanzas as subtext. 27.3 x 35.7 cm.

HUDIBRAS II. – Cook “made a name for himself as Hogarth engraver, too (1795-1803) whose complete work he has reproduced” (Thieme-Becker VII, 1912, p. 348/I) and whose original format he maintained in contrast to all later Hogarth editions, which moreover mostly don’t contain the consequently rarer Hudibras. Several works not published by Hogarth himself had been engraved by Cook for the first time as he met with approval by a contemporary connoisseur as Maximilian Speck von Sternburg, too. – Above trimmed within the white platefield. Outermargin below and right minimal foxing. – On buff paper, of finest chiaroscuro. – OF  OPTICAL  SOVEREIGNTY .

(Laaths, Geschichte der Weltliteratur, 1953, p. 375), a “satiric scourge” (Meyers Konv.-Lex., 4^th ed., III, 693/I) on the politically just sacked Puritanism and the best-known work of its creator esteemed by Charles II,

SAMUEL  BUTLER

(Streensham, Worcestersh, 1612/13 – London 1680), as result of his impressions in the employ of Cromwell’s Colonel Sir Samuel Luke, “at which religious and political sects were about” (Meyers). Remaining incomplete the first two parts of the epic were published in 1663/64, a third one in 1678, then, joined, long-lived through the centuries. In three cantos each

“ describing in rough, mostly eightsyllabic songs (later known as ‚hudibrastic verse‘) the loosely connected, grotesque adventures of two Puritans, the knight Hudibras and his shield-bearer Ralpho. Hogarth has engraved two different sets of illustrations to this poem: twelve large, carefully executed engravings he has created on his own, independently of a publisher, and published in February 1726, and seventeen smaller ones which have more the character of woodcuts and presumably done before, but were published the following April only in a poem edition. These follow the course of the action while the large sheets only represent the decisive scenes with an abridgement as legend … Epic and pictures are an antiheroic satire on Puritanism and sectarianism ”

(Margrit Bachofen-Moser in Hogarth Catalogue Zurich, 1983, pp. 25 ff. illustrating the large version in partly differing arrangement).

In the first instance Cook repeated the 12-sheet large version in its original format as for the 3^rd sheet in question then here, too, years later in a popular small one of only ca. 14 x 17 cm subject-size.

The Hudibras set – Thieme-Becker judge – is “of decisive significance for Hogarth’s development.

Here  lies  the  key  to  the  understanding  of  the  satirist  H. ”

(Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, vol. XVII, 1924, p. 300/II).

And Austin Dobson in the Encyclopedia Britannica of 1911 :

“ These (plates Hogarth) himself valued highly, and they are the best of his book illustrations. But he was far too individual to be the patient interpreter of other men’s thoughts, and it is not in this direction that his successes are to be sought … (And generally resuming) If we regard him – as he loved to regard himself – as ‘author’ rather than ‘artist’, his place is with the great masters of literature – with the Thackerays and Fieldings, the  Cervantes  and Molières. ”

Offer no. 14,726 / EUR  185. (c. US$ 297.) + shipping

– – – The same in Cook’s smaller version with the subtext being replaced by the series title. Inscribed: Pl. II. / Hogarth pinx^t. / HUDIBRAS. / T. Cook sculp^t. / Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, July 1^st. 1807. Subject-size 14 x 16.8 cm. – Trimmed within the wide white platemark and this especially at three sides in the outer part slightly foxed and browned resp.
Offer no. 14,727 / EUR  60. (c. US$ 96.) + shipping

– – – The same in Hogarth’s own etching/engraving of 1726 with the Sayer address of the 1768 new edition and here in the impression on strong paper from the plate reworked by the royal engraver James Heath (1757 London 1834, “earned applause early”, Nagler) about 1822

(“Even these impressions became relatively rare today though”, Art Gallery Esslingen 1970; and Meyers Konv.-Lex., 4th ed., VIII [1888], 625: “A fine edition”). Inscribed: 2 (by the publisher) / W^m. Hogarth Inven. et Sculp. / London Printed for Rob^t. Sayer, Map & Printseller, at N^o. 53 in Fleet Street., otherwise with title + subtext. 27.3 x 34.7 cm. –Hogarth Catalog Zurich, 1983, ills. 2.
Offer no. 14,728 / EUR  148. (c. US$ 238.) + shipping

Further single sujets of the set available in several qualities.

„ heute kam ich wieder nach Hause und fand die Bilder vor. Sie sind wohlbehalten angekommen und in einem guten Zustand … Vielen Dank für Ihre Mühe “

(Frau E. K., 24. Juni 2002)