Military Discoveries or The Miseries of Campaigning-4 Prints by Henry Thomas Alken. *EXTREMELY RARE PRINTS*

A set of four colored aquatints under the name "Military Discoveries or The Miseries of Campaigning" with provenance dating to late 19th-early 20th Century of the previous owners of the collection. There are original stickers of the prominent collectors who owned the prints on the backing of a couple of the prints. There is also a book similarly named, being sold on "Abes Books" and "DAVID BRASS RARE BOOKS" in the thousands of dollars. The books are extremely rare and include 7 prints, different of these listed prints. We believe these prints to be as rare as the books, as they are nowhere to be found online.

There are some prints by Mr. Alken, published by the same company as these, S & J Fuller Publishers-Temple of Fancy, Rathbone Place, UK. There is a vein of black humor pertaining to conflict & war running through the prose under each print, similar to the different prints in the rare book. The individual prints show some wear from age, in need of some care, but very sound lot however.

Henry Thomas Alken was an English painter and engraver chiefly known as a caricaturist and illustrator of sporting subjects and coaching scenes. His most prolific period of painting and drawing occurred between 1816 and 1831. Ben Tally Ho was the pen name of Henry Thomas Alken, Sr. (1785-1851). He was a fine huntsman who convincingly portrayed the details of the hunt. At a time when most British sporting artists somewhat repetitiously painted well-seated, immobile riders surrounded by their dogs prior to a hunt, Alken produced simple, yet active caricatures. We stumbled upon him in our brief journey across the Atlantic to learn more about the artist of Not Yet Caught. Alken was the most famous of four generations of artists. The first was his grandfather, a carver; the second, his father, an engraver and architects. The third generation included two brothers as well as himself, all sporting artists. His two sons, also sporting artists, comprised the fourth generation.

Alken portrayed not only hunting, but all the popular sports of the late 18th and early 19th centuries: shooting, racing, bull- and bear-baiting, cock-fighting, and fishing. Under his illustrations, he penned commentary. As an example, “You must have no more fellow-feeling in fox-hunting than you have in your political career.” (How to Qualify for a Meltonian, 1819, quoted in Diana Donald, Picturing Animals in Britain: 1750-1850, Yale University Press, 2007, 288).

Alken’s fame faded quickly after he published a flurry of books with titles such as Qualified Horses and Unqualified Riders, 1815, and Some Do, Some Don’t, It’s all a Notion, 1817. The public wearied of his type of humor. He died nearly destitute.