The first and only edition of the rarest of Alken’s books. Henry Thomas Alken (1785-1851) was born in London and was initially taught by his father before being sent to learn at the hand of J. T. Barber a miniaturist. He showed an early talent for depicting animals especially dogs and horses. He married in Ipswich in 1809 and began a career of supplying designs to many of the leading print publishers of the day including Thomas McLean and Rudolph Ackermann. Hardie writing in 1906 stated “Alken’s principal publisher was M’Lean, of No. 26 Haymarket, and Mr. T. M’Lean, the present representative of the firm, tells me that in his father’s days Alken occupied a room in the upper part of the house in the Haymarket, and received thirty shillings a day”.

This book is regarded as the rarest of all Alken’s works. It is not recorded by Siltzer, Slater or Schwerdt. It is recorded in Abbey Life which states ‘two other copies only can be traced’. One of those examples lacked one plate and bore a slightly differently worded title bearing Alken’s name. The other record is from an auction in December 1907 which dates the book to 1830. Abbey believes that it is in fact earlier not least because the publisher’s name is given as McLane (not McLean). Also by the 1830s Alken’s career was more focused on sporting subjects rather than military. In the last forty years there are only two auction records – both for the same copy. That copy bore an old library stamp on the title page. These were at Christie’s 16 April 1985, lot 95 for £2808 and Christie’s 25 July 1979, lot 81 for £1,500. This is therefore the first recorded on the market in nearly thirty years. The binding on this example is identical to that in Abbey. The first forty plates all bear manuscript titles, the remaining are larger occupying the space previously taken up with the title. Abbey Life 349; Hardie (1906) ‘English Coloured Books’ pp. 177-87 (not listing this work); ODNB.