The Works of William Hogarth, Trusler (Two Volumes). 

Size: (each) 10 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. 

This set of books is titled The Works Of William Hogarth; In a Series of Engravings, With Descriptions, And A Comment On Their Moral Tendency, written by The Rev. John Trusler  and Others, To Which are Added, Anecdotes Of The Author And His Works, by J. Hogarth and J. Nichols, The two-volume set was printed and published in London and New York by The London Printing And Publishers Company, it is undated, but probably done around 1860, based on dated copies published by The London Printing And Publishers Company. 

William Hogarth (1697 - 1764) was an English painter, engraver, satirist, and cartoonist, and    his works ranged from realistic portraiture to comic-strip like pictures called “modern moral subjects”, and among his most famous works were A Harlot’s Progress and Rake’s Progress and a set of prints titled The Four Stages of Cruelty, where he protested the cruel treatment of animals and suggested how people who show cruelty like this should be treated themselves. He was a very popular and influential artist of his times and is considered to be the first great English painter.   

Trusler (1735 - 1820) was a former priest who launched a business career by advertising ready-made sermons at one shilling each, printed them in cursive type to look like manuscripts, and he became a printer and publisher who issued a wide range of books on everything from etiquette to law to get-rich schemes. 

The books are 3/4 bound, with five raised bands, gilt lettering and decorative debossing on the spine, brown boards, beautiful marbled endpapers, “Robert L Green” inscribed in old ink on the blank endpapers in front, probably from a quill pen, each book has a frontis portrait with protective tissue guards, a vignette before the title page, a total of 150 steel engravings between the two books, and all the edges are gilt.  

Vol I has a self-portrait of Hogarth with his dog as the frontispiece, a vignette of The Pieman before the title page, two pages of Contents, and 144 pages of text. Vol II has a frontispiece of Hogarth engaged in painting, a vignette of The Milk Maid before the title page, two pages of Contents, and 280 pages of text.  

The books measure 10 3/4 x 8 3/4 inches wide and are in very good condition. All the tissue guards are present, the bindings are tight and the pages, text, and illustrations in the first volume are very clean, while the edges of the second volume have a brown stain on some of them, like coffee had spilled on the edges; the stains don’t touch the engravings or text. There is offset from the engravings in both volumes, light rubbing near two tips, light rubbing on the bands and along the spine of the second volume, the second volume has a blemish on the front cover and dark spots in the corners of the back cover, and aside from the coffee stain blemishes in the second volume, a very attractive set of the works of Hogarth.  

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