c1890 Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour Handley Cross

Description

Colour Plates, Illustrated, Publishers' Original Binding

Robert Smith Surtees was an English editor, novelist and sporting writer best known for his contributions to the first English sporting periodical to devote itself to every type of sport, 'The Sporting Magazine'. Surtees launched his own sporting magazine entitled the 'New Sporting Magazine' in 1831, contributing the comic papers which appeared as 'Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities' in 1838. Jorrocks, the eponymous, vulgar and artful sporting cockney grocer was a great success with the public and is often considered as one of the great comic characters of English Literature. Surtees produced several works in the same vein as his 'Jorrocks novels', including this text, 'Handley Cross', whose protagonist James Pigg was actually based on a real person: Joe Kirk, a Slaley huntsman. 'Handley Cross': collated, complete with thirteen colour plates. However, another work that appeared within Surtees magazine (containing an equally humorous titular hero) was this text, 'Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour'. Following the fortunes and exploits of a man determined to better himself at the perpetual expense of others, this story is often regarded as Surtees's best work. 'Mr Sponge's Sporting Tour': collated, complete with twenty nine plates.