A Panorama of the Progress of Human Life, Fashionably Displayed Illustrating Skakespeare Ages and Giving at the Same Time the Manners, Costume, Amusements and Field Sports of the English People, The Whole Illustrative of Modern Character in a Series of Many Hundreds of Moving Figures

37pp, with 35 small, tipped in, fully coloured illustrations, three mounted on fold out leaf. Quarter bound in red linen over pale blue paper-covered boards, gilt titles on spine. Housed in its original card slipcase with printed title label on front and rear. Elephant folio. . Boards a little warped on lower edge, spine rubbed and faded, lower corners mildly bumped. Some indentations at the bottom of the front hinge, else internally neat, clean, bright and tight. Slipcase is marked, scuffed and rubbed all over, markedly at edges with corners rubbed through and bumped. A handsome book with charming prints reproducing Alken's innovative publication of 1820 which stimulated the 'panoramic' genre of illustrative commentary and story-telling.