The Comic History of Rome by Gilbert Abbott Beckett.
Illustrated by John Leech, with ten hand-colored steel engravings and 98 in-text woodcuts. Published by Bradbury, Evans, and Co. in London in 1852.
308 pages.

Drawn by caricaturist John Leech, the illustrations of Gilbert Abbott à Beckett's The Comic History of Rome are a Victorian fever dream of ancient Rome. Senators pair their togas with top hats, generals wear muttonchops under their helmets, and priests styled as snake charmers draw gullible crowds with the help of coal-powered rotating billboards. The blending of past and present in Leech's illustrations is on one level a simple visual joke that reinforces the humor of the text, dragging the glories of Roman history down to the level of the contemporary London street. A closer look at the context of the book, however, reveals a series of interesting tensions beneath the surface of humor.
Please see the photos; more are available upon request.
Measures: 8.75 x 5.75
Bound: Half bound in red leather with marbled boards, fore-edges, endpapers, lettering, and design in gold, w/ gilt on all three edges. Beautiful marbled inner boards. The pages are yellowed but clean, w/ a few age spots on the front blank pages. This book is in lovely condition w/ no cracks or fading.

Please review the photos; more are available upon request
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