Item #JLR0774 A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes. Colonel Thornton, illust. Bryant, Thomas, Joshua.
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes
A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes

A sporting tour through various parts of France, in the year 1802: including a concise description of the sporting establishments, mode of hunting, and other field-amusements, as practised in that country with general observations on the Arts, Sciences, Agriculture, Husbandry, and Commerce: strictures on the customs and manners of the French People; with a view of the comparative advantages of sporting in France and England. In a series of letters to the Right Hon. The Earl of Darlington. To which is prefixed, an account of French wolf-hunting. By Colonel Thornton, of Thornville-Royal, Yorkshire, Illustrated with upwards of eighty correct and picturesque delineations from original drawings from nature, by Mr. Bryant, and other eminent artists. In two volumes

Two volumes. London: James Cundee at Albion Press for Longman, Hurst, Reese, and Orme; and C. Chapple; 1806. “First and only edition.”

Quarto (12 1/8” x 9 ½”, 307mm x 242mm).
Vol. I: a4 b-h4 i1 B-Y4 Z2 χ1 [$2 signed]. 120 leaves, pp. i-vii (half-title, blank, title, blank, dedication, blank, editor’s preface) viii-lxvi, 1 2-168, [6] (6pp. index). With 25 plates: an etched portrait frontispiece and title-page, and 23 pictorial plates, of which 5 are engraved and 18 aquatint, of which 5 are folding.
Vol. II: a4 b2 B-2K4 2L2 2N2 [$2 signed]. 142 leaves, pp. i-v (half-title, blank, title, blank, contents) vi-xii, 1 2-260, [12] (5pp. index, errata, 2pp. directions to the binder, 4pp. advertisements). With 32 plates: an etched title-page and 31 pictorial plates, of which 1 is woodcut, 2 engraved and 28 aquatint, of which 6 are folding.
With 57 plates in toto: an etched portrait frontispiece, 2 etched title-pages and 54 pictorial plates, of which 1 is woodcut, 7 engraved and 46 aquatint, of which 11 are folding (as well as several aquatint and woodcut culs-de-lampe).

Bound in the publisher’s drab boards backed in blue tape. With octagonal paper labels to the front of each volume (priced “3l. 13s. 6d. in extra boards.”). On the spines, author, title and number in ink manuscript. All edges of the text-block untrimmed.

Worn, with chips and losses along the spine. Fore-corners bumped, with chipping. The front hinge of vol. II starting. A little soiling generally, with rubbing and wear to the paper-labels. Foxing to the portrait and engraved titles, and occasionally at the plates, but altogether quite clean with excellent margins (including unopened gatherings at I.b1-2 and II.P3-4). Vol. II quire S and its three plates starting, and quire 2L (pp. 257-260) laid in. A wholly unsophisticated set.


The relationship between France and Britain, traditional foes, realigned over the course of the XVIIIc, first from the losses of the large parts of their American empires (the French in the Seven Years’ War ending 1763, the British from 1776), and then from the French Revolution. These forged a connection between the aristocrats (or former aristocrats, in the case of France) of the two nations, such that the Napoleonic Wars were set against an oddly chummy relationship between belligerents.

Colonel Thomas Thornton (1751/2–1823) inherited his father’s Yorkshire estates when still a teenager, and became an accomplished, indeed renowned sportsman (a blurry term, but referring to hunting and shooting, as well as to gentlemen’s other outdoor pursuits). From George III’s second son Prince Frederick, (“The Grand Old”) Duke of York, Thornton bought the estate of Allerton Park in 1789 and renamed it Thornville Royal. Court-martialed after a dispute with his regiment’s officers, he resigned his colonelcy and set off for the Continent during the Peace of Amiens (March 1802–May 1803), which marks the break between the Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.

Thornton was the archetypal Regency sporting gentleman; he reintroduced falconry into the modern era, and was a crack shot — indeed, he presented a pair of Durs Egg pistols to Napoleon, and commissioned volley guns, including a 14-barrel rifle. On this basis he toured France (mostly in the north) and corresponded with the Earl of Darlington (William Henry Vane, later first Duke of Cleveland) about his varied experiences, from hunts and shoots on estates including the Châteaux of Versailles and Chantilly (in later life, he would rent the entire Château de Chambord), to experiences in French restaurants, including wine lists and evaluations of the handsome women serving at Parisian coffee-houses.

The epistolary format, typical of the period, must surely have been a mere conceit, as Thornton had with him the British artist Joshua Bryant as well as the French Monsieur Lucas (among others), whose drawings of sporting scenes, buildings, landscapes, events, fashions and types found throughout France have been translated to engravings and, more notably, into aquatints. Aquatint (from the Italian acqua tinta; eau-forte in French) uses washes of mordant (a biting acid) with a rosin-resist to create roughened areas that hold ink according to their depth and density; it is often combined with engraving to produce lines, but its virtue is a lineless translation of tone.

It was asserted as early as Schwerdt’s Hunting, Hawking, Shooting (1928–1937) that this 1806 imprint was the “first and only edition” of the work. The British Library, however, held a set — destroyed in the Blitz — with 1805 title-pages, although the dedication is dated 31 March 1806. Abbey[1] opines that some sets were issued before the Earl of Darlington agreed to the dedication, but that the presswork is uniform; the whole work is on wove paper, and the plates do not appear to be watermarked, but some of the letterpress is watermarked 1804.

Abbey, Travel I.84; Schwerdt II.259–261; Tooley, English Books 488.

[1] Pace Abbey, the paper labels indicate a price of £3/13/6 in extra boards and not £5/5.

Item #JLR0774

Price: $4,500

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