The Tournament; Or, Days of Chivalry

London: Printed For William Sams, 1823. First edition. leather_bound. Contemporary brown calf, flat spine with label lettered in gilt. Very good. [iv], 59, [1] pp. 23 x 13 cm. 24 hand coloured copperplates attributed to Thomas Rowlandson, and doggerel verse in the style of frequent collaborator William Combe. A rare colour plate book in the medieval chivalric genre. Probably inspired by the success of Walter Scott's Ivanhoe published in 1819 and the Regency craze for all things medieval Gothic. Sir Ethelbert romancing the fair Adelaide, despite the evil machinations of rival knight Gondibert. The plates depict knights in armour in combat at tournaments, sword-fighting duels, dastardly deeds, pageantry and courtly love. Not in ABBEY or TOOLEY. Spine label with loss, interior and plates clean and fresh.