(19th-Century Children's Books / Regency Toy Books / Illustrated Verse) The Fishes Grand Gala. A Companion to The Peacock at Home, &c. &c.: Parts I and II by Mrs. Cockle, Author of The Juvenile Journal, &c.
London: Printed for C. Chapple ... B. Tabart ... J. Harris ... Darton and Harvey ... and all other Booksellers, 1808. 24mo - 5-1/16" x 4-1/16". [2], 3–16, [1] pp. [6] leaves of plates; [2], 3–16, [1] pp. [6] leaves of plates. Two volumes. Original sewn tan paper wrappers with decorative border, central decoration, and titles printed in black to front wrappers; decorative borders surrounding publisher's advertisements printed in black to back wrappers. A premier, complete two-volume set of Mary Cockle's whimsical continuation of the famous "whimsical gala" genre, establishing the FIRST EDITION of this important juvenile milestone. Written in sophisticated verse, the narrative submerges the high-society festivities popularized by its predecessors into an underwater realm. The letterpress text is sumptuously illustrated with a total of 12 full-page copperplate engravings (six per volume including frontispieces) executed after original designs by the celebrated artist William Mulready (1786–1863). Features a past collector's bookplate to the front wrapper verso of each volume and a contemporary previous owner's name neatly penned on the initial un-numbered blank page of each volume.
The physical condition of the books is graded VERY GOOD + (utilizing the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper). The fragile paper wrappers remain entirely intact and structurally sound, showing only minor rubbing along the delicate spines, superficial wrinkling from handling, and a few very minor spots of foxing. Internally, Part I displays minor natural offsetting from the copperplates to the text and a few scattered light spots of foxing. Part II exhibits minor offsetting, a small light stain affecting two text leaves, and visible foxing confined to two of the plates. The sewing remains tight, the margins are uncropped, and the overall state of preservation is outstanding for a 19th-century children's survival of this material format.
The Butterfly's Ball Phenomenon and Mary Cockle's Underwater Fantasy
Published during the height of the early 19th-century craze for juvenile novelty books, The Fishes Grand Gala represents a direct commercial response to William Roscoe's groundbreaking The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (1807) and Catherine Ann Dorset's The Peacock "At Home" (1807). This collaborative publishing venture—uniting major London children's specialists like John Harris and Benjamin Tabart—capitalized on the public's insatiable appetite for anthropomorphic social satires written for youth. Mary Cockle, an accomplished educator and author, deftly shifts the setting from lawns and aviaries to the ocean floor, introducing a complex cast of marine life mimicking British high society. The artistic success of the work is heavily indebted to the youthful designs of William Mulready, whose imaginative, detailed copperplates capture the elegant absurdity of the verse, marking a critical evolutionary step in English children's book illustration.
Series Bibliography, Census, and Market Scarcity
Fragile 24mo toy books issued in plain sewn paper wrappers were intended for active nursery use, resulting in an exceptionally low survival rate. While a small number of copies of this 1808 printing are preserved in institutional special collections globally, complete sets containing both Part I and Part II in their original, unmodified state remain remarkably scarce in contemporary commerce. Because these thin wrappers were almost invariably destroyed by handling or stripped away for collective library bindings, the survival of a complete, structurally original set outside of permanent archives is a notable event for the private market. Bibliographically recorded in Marjorie Moon’s John Harris's Books for Youth (1976, entry 143).
THIS EXCEEDINGLY RARE 1808 TWO-VOLUME JUVENILE TOY BOOK, FEATURING TWELVE COPPER ENGRAVINGS AFTER WILLIAM MULREADY, REPRESENTS A CRITICAL ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF EARLY ENGLISH CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, 19TH-CENTURY BOOK ILLUSTRATION, OR CO-PUBLISHED REGENCY JUVENILIA.
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