CRUIKSHANK, George; BLANCHARD, Laman; BIRDSALL, binder — George Cruikshank's Omnibus

London: Tilt and Bogue, 1842. Cruikshank Unbound: The Artist's Own Comic Magazine A Landmark of Victorian Graphic Humor - One Hundred Illustrations First Edition, Finely Bound by Wallis [CRUIKSHANK, George]. George Cruikshank's Omnibus. Illustrated with one hundred engravings on steel and wood. Edited by Laman Blanchard. London: Tilt and Bogue, 1842. First edition. Large octavo (8 13/16 x 5 1/2 inches; 224 x 140 mm.). [vii], iv, 300 pp. Engraved portrait, engraved pictorial preface, twenty engraved plates and seventy-eight woodcuts in the text. Handsomely bound ca. 1910 by Wallis in full tan calf, covers with triple-ruled gilt borders and corner ornaments, spine with five raised bands richly tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt board edges and elaborate gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. A fine, attractive copy. A major self-directed project by Cruikshank and an important document of mid-Victorian comic publishing, Cruikshank's Omnibus originated as a monthly serial (May 1841-January 1842) and represents the artist's deliberate move toward independence following his break with the publisher Richard Bentley. Conceived as a vehicle for his own artistic and satirical expression, the work gathers a rich miscellany of humorous essays, sketches, and serialized fiction. The editorial hand of Blanchard - assisted by William Harrison Ainsworth - helped assemble a lively roster of contributors, including Frederick Marryat and William Makepeace Thackeray. Yet the true center of gravity remains Cruikshank himself, whose prolific output here - one hundred illustrations in total - demonstrates his extraordinary versatility across both steel engraving and woodcut. Cruikshank's visual wit ranges from broad caricature to finely observed social comedy, reflecting the evolving taste of a Victorian audience increasingly attuned to illustrated periodicals. This example, preserved in an elegant early twentieth-century binding, offers a particularly pleasing presentation of one of Cruikshank's most ambitious independent ventures. Cohn, 190. .