Gretna-Green Bolt-a, The

London [&] Paris: Rudolph Ackermann [&] Galignani & Co., 1853. A Rare Work. The frontispiece. which is executed in the manner of Henry Alken"
From the Library of Fitz Eugene Dixon

[ALKEN, Henry, in the style of]. [ARMSTRONG, William Henry]. O'BRADLEY, Arthur, pseudonym. The Gretna-Green Bolt-a, or, Young Ladies' Man-ual. Edited by Arthur O'Bradley, Esq. London [&] Paris: Rudolph Ackermann [&] Galignani & Co., [1853].

First and only edition. Oblong octavo (5 1/2 x 11 1/8 inches; 140 x 282 mm.). 69, [1] pp, printed on pink paper. Hand colored lithograph frontispiece heightened with gum arabic (on white paper) depicting the pursuit of an eloping couple. The lithograph is unsigned and with no imprint. It has been suggested that it is by the sporting artist Henry Alken (1785-1851).

Publisher's green pebble-grain cloth, neatly rebacked to style, inner hinges strengthened. Copy of the hand colored lithograph frontispiece, heightened with gum arabic, affixed to front cover (same as Major Abbey's copy) all edges gilt. A few small marginal stains, still an excellent copy. From the library of Fitz Eugene Dixon with his armorial bookplate on front paste-down.

"A Rare Work. The frontispiece. which is executed in the manner of Henry Alken, depicts a stage coach, two riders, a footman, and two pairs of horses at top speed on their way to Gretna Green. In the distance is the pursuing coach." (Dixon, 123).

A jocular poem by 'Arthur O'Bradley', apparently the pseudonym of the soldier, poet and playwright William Henry Armstrong. The attribution of the poem itself is made fairly certain by a footnote on page 64: a poem there reprinted from Lays of Love is acknowledged as being by Captain W.H. Armstrong, who also wrote under the pseudeonym 'Caleb'.

The main part of the text is a poem titled 'O, my dearest Caroline!, the plot of which has a 'Bolter' and a 'Boltee' eloping to Gretna Green, pursued one must assume by her irate father.

A very uncommon book with just five copies located in libraries and institutions worldwide: The British Library (UK); NLS Library of Congress (DC); Yale (CT) [the Abbey copy]; The Morgan Library (NY), and the Lilly Library (IN).

Provenance: Fitz Eugene Dixon sale, Anderson Galleries New York, January 6th, 1937, lot 123.

Abbey, Life in England, 408; Dixon, 123.