Robert Smith Surtees — Selected Works of Robert Smith Surtees

London , Bradbury, Agnew and Co. c1904. Cloth. Two volumes of the sporting novels of Robert Smith Surtees. Containing: Mr Romford's Hounds Hawbuck Grange; or, the Sporting Adventures of Thomas Scott, Esq. Illustrated with thirty-one coloured plates and many more illustrations in the text by John Leech and 'Phiz&apos. Surtees launched out on his own with the New Sporting Magazine in 1831, contributing the comic papers which appeared as Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities in 1838. Jorrocks, the sporting cockney grocer, with his vulgarity and good-natured artfulness, was a great success with the public, and Surtees produced more Jorrocks novels in the same vein, notably Handley Cross and Hillingdon Hall, where the description of the house is very reminiscent of Hamsterley. Another hero, Soapey Sponge, appears in Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour, possibly Surtees best work. All Surtees' novels were composed at Hamsterley Hall, where he wrote standing up at a desk, like Victor Hugo. In decorative red and gilt cloth bindings. Externally, sound, though with some fading, marks and bumping. Internally, firmly bound. Two hinges are strained. Ink signatures to the front free-endpaper of Mr Romford's Hounds. Pages are bright, though with some foxing. Good . Ill.: John Leech and 'Phiz&apos. Good .