Phrenology exemplified and illustrated, with upwards of forty etchings: being scraps No. 7, for the year 1837
Boston: D. C. Johnston, 1837. Second edition, oblong folio, pp. 19, [1]; 4 engraved plates containing 39 illustrations, near fine in original printed brown wrappers. A satire of a phrenological text, pontificating on the many virtues of secretiveness, order, amativeness, benevolence, firmness, and so on, each with an accompanying caricature in the plates. "Although it clearly drew inspiration from similarly named works by the great English engraver George Cruikshank, Scraps was like no other American publication: an extensive set of images by a single hand, a long look through a single artist’s eyes. Scraps was a sustained visual performance, overwhelming the reader with images. It sold on the order of 3,000 or more copies a year, and was distributed by booksellers from Portland, Maine, to Charleston, South Carolina. Johnston swiftly became the first truly famous American graphic artist, whose work was recognized up and down the cities of the East" (Larkin, "What he did for love"). Item #58183
Price: $275.00
