From 1809 to 1811 he wrote for Ackermann’s The Poetical Magazine the serialized comic poem The Tour of Dr Syntax in Search of the Picturesque, descriptive and moralising verse illustrated by artist Thomas Rowlandson’s color plates. It satirised William Gilpin, who toured Britain to describe his theory of the Picturesque. It was collected in book form in 1812, and was followed by two similar Tours, “…in search of Consolation” (1819) and “…in search of a Wife,” the first Mrs Syntax having died at the end of the first Tour. The second Tour was collected as an 1820 book, and the third tour as an 1821 book. Some reprint editions over the next several decades rendered Rowlandson’s colour plates in black and white.
Diameter: 5 ⅝”
Condition: Three minute chips to the rim