1851 The Loving Ballad of Lord Bateman

Description

Early Edition, Illustrated, Publishers' Original Binding, Uncommon

The third edition.

Illustrated with eleven plates. In other copies, one of the plates is bound as the frontispiece, however in this copy, the plates are bound throughout the text. Collated, complete.

A charming poem by Charles Dickens, the last of his collaborations with George Cruikshank.

This poem began life when Cruikshank overheard a cockney version of the traditional ballad outside a public house, subsequently repeating it to Dickens, who revamped it into this version here.

The authorship of this poem has seen a lot of debate, with people believing that William Makepeace Thackeray was the author and that Dickens provided the notes and preface, however it seems that Cruikshank told people that Dickens wrote the ballad for him.

Illustrations by George Cruikshank, the well known caricaturist.