Sports et loisirs

1835 · 89496 — London: Rudolph Ackermann 1835. First Edition. First Printing. Octavo. 21.5cm. Publisher's original pebble grain deep brown cloth titled and embellished in gilt to front board. iv; 2; 110pp. Tight clean and strong a little bumping and scuffing to extremities light sunning to spine very handsome; internally clean and fresh brown endpapers with armorial bookplate to front pastedown tipped into the prelims actually affixed to the rear of the frontis by a stub is an addressed postal paper probably the front of an envelope bearing Mytton's signature an 1820 Shrewsbury postal frank and the address of Mrs. Lethbridge the married name of Mytton's sister; the 12 hand colored plates by Alken are spectacularly bright and striking tissue guards are present. An outstandingly clean and attractive copy if it is possible for a book that has made its way from 1835 to be described as "near fine" then this fits the bill. <br /> <br /> The book in the hand is quite a slight volume but is housed in one of the most luxurious book boxes we have encountered; a deep red levant morocco case by Sangorski with a push button clasp a rather decadent cushioned velvet lining and a drop front for ease of opening. The book itself has a tailor made red cloth and board chemise. <br /> Also present in the case are old catalog entries for the book one of which is on a Bernard Quaritch letterhead and a three page typed analysis of the title in all its editions and permutations by Ernest R. Gee one of the most legendary New York dealers in sporting and hunting books. Quaritch's pencil notes to the front flyleaf state: "Very rare in original condition. Extremely fine and perfect copy" which for them is the equivalent of throwing a parade. The bookplate is that of noted collector of fine books E. Hubert Litchfield whose legendary library was auctioned off in 1951 like so many post-war libraries from country seats of extinguished gentry. <br /> <br /> John "Mad Jack" Mytton himself was probably the epitome of the early 19th century fearless noble rake. Frequently in his own lifetime compared to that other luminous doomed libertine Lord John Rochester; Mytton was an alcoholic he took 2000 bottles of port with him to college a gambler by the standards of the time a womaniser and as Rifleman Harris would say; "A courtier to my Lord Bacchus and an unremitting debtor." <br /> Regardless of his belief that moral highground was just something to gallop one's hounds over during his lifetime Mytton was very much loved by his friends associates and servants. <br /> A mad eccentric whose life can best be described as a series of enthusiastically botched suicide attempts he was also generous to a fault utterly without fear completely at home in his own lunacy kind thoughtful creative and very much a product of his time. When he wasn't dressing as a highwayman to terrify rural clergy or hunting wildfowl in winter at night on ice.naked he was riding a bear into dinner parties accidentally setting himself on fire to cure hiccups and dressing up as a tramp to test the charity of his own estate staff he ended up fist fighting his own under butler when they failed to be forthcoming. <br /> He was dead by 38 riddled with alcoholism and compounded injury and just like with Rochester his light went down entangled with the dark. Accounts vary but something like 3500 people including his tenants and servants attended his funeral including a beautiful young woman named Susan whom Mytton had met on Westminster Bridge in 1831 and promptly offered a salary of 500 pounds a year to be his companion; she stayed with him until his death. A rare book lavishly preserved commemorating a type of man that for better or worse no longer exists. Rudolph Ackermann unknown