A Picture of the Manners, Customs, Sports, and Pastimes, of the Inhabitants of England, Jehoshaphat Aspin, 1825

An uncommon illustrated survey of English social life, tracing changing customs and recreations from Saxon times to the eighteenth century. Drawing on early chronicles and the work of Joseph Strutt and others, Aspin explores subjects including village feasts, royal pageantry, hunting and hawking, trial by ordeal, masques and mummeries. Written to entertain and instruct young readers, this 1825 first edition retains its original printed boards and all twelve engraved plates.

A Picture of the Manners, Customs, Sports, and Pastimes, of the Inhabitants of England, from the Arrival of the Saxons Down to the Eighteenth Century. Selected from the Ancient Chronicles, and rendered in Modern Phraseology. Illustrated by Numerous Engravings, from Strutt and Others. By Jehoshaphat Aspin (some suggest this is a pseudonym for an unknown female author - the confirmed identity remains somewhat a mystery).

Published by J. Harris, London, 1825. First edition.

A good copy of this uncommon work, bound in original Publisher's binding with printed boards and brown leather spine with gilt rules and title. Boards are worn and scuffed, with soiling, and joints are rubbed, with loss to leather at head of spine. Endpapers cracked at front hinge, and first pastedown carries a library 'seal' of a 'J. McMichael, Engineer' of Glasgow and a small Edinburgh bookseller's label (William Whyte).

Some spotting and marks to endpapers, but overall text is clean with occasional scattered marks and age-related wear. Fragile to the gutter in places, but all still bound. With attractive engravings.

Text in English.

iv + 296pp + 12 engraved plates (including frontispiece) - collated as complete.

Dimensions: approximately 174mm high x 112mm wide x 24mm deep.

Weight: approximately 294g (unpacked).