1850 Rare 1stED Bound by Sangorski - FRANK FAIRLEGH By Smedley with Cruikshank Illustrations.

 

(description) 

Author: Smedley, Francis E. (Illustrator, George Cruikshank).
Title: Frank Fairlegh; or, Scenes From the Life of a Private Pupil.
Publisher: London, A. Hall, Virtue & Co., no date. (1850). First Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 9 " X 6 ".
Pages:  xii-496 pages.
Binding: Attractive, beautiful, and fine binding finely bound in blue half leather by Sangosrski & Sutcliffe, London (hinges fine) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, original wrapper bound at the end of the volume - as shown, top edge gilt). 
Illustrated: Complete with the illustrated title page and the beautiful 29 full-page illustrations on steel by George Cruikshank.

The book: Rare and attractive first edition of this Victorian novel - Frank Fairlegh ; or, Scenes From the Life of a Private Pupil. Smedley contributed his first book, Scenes from the Life of a Private Pupil, anonymously to Sharpe's London Magazine in 1846-1848. His first essay proved so successful that it was expanded into Frank Fairlegh, and published in book-form in 1850. George Cruikshank supplied the beautiful illustrations for this book!

The author: Francis Edward Smedley (4 October 1818 – 1 May 1864) was an English novelist. His name appears in print usually as Frank E. Smedley. He was born with deformed feet, a disability that impaired his mobility and prevented him from attending regular school. Instead, he was privately educated by his uncle. His cousin, the poet Menella Bute Smedley, later kept house for him and acted as his secretary. Smedley died in London in 1864 and is buried in Marlow Parish Churchyard, Buckinghamshire. 

The illustrator: George Cruikshank (27 September 1792 – 1 February 1878) was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience.

The binder: Sangorski & Sutcliffe is a firm of bookbinders established in London in 1901. It is considered to be one of the most important bookbinding companies of the 20th century, famous for its luxurious jeweled bindings that used real gold and precious stones in their book covers.