‘The Pride of Mankind’
‘The Pride of Mankind’ (2006), the second book published by the Hedge Sparrow Press, will be of special interest to readers, students and collectors of the works of Charles Dickens.
The text consists of a series of 10 advertisement poems for Robert Warren’s boot blacking printed between March 13 and May 14 1832 in a radical evening newspaper: The True Sun. Charles Dickens had worked as a child for Robert Warren’s brother and rival Jonathan at his factory on the Strand, and was a young reporter on The True Sun, also on the Strand, when these advertisements appeared. There is compelling evidence, fully and clearly presented in John Drew’s introduction, that at least one of the poems, ‘The Turtle Dove’, was penned by Dickens, and is his first identifiable publication. Two others show a marked stylistic similarity. The poem contains the slogan for Warren’s product, “the pride of mankind”, which has been taken as a title for the sequence.
The book is of interest in the context of advertising history as well as for its Dickensian associations. It was customary for authors, established or impecunious and aspiring like the young Dickens, to earn a little extra cash from “puff verses” of this kind. Typically they display witty versification and a tone of ironic hyperbole. The latent humour is brought out in the engravings by Bob Guy – each poem having a main illustration and a reflective tailpiece in the manner of Bewick.
John Drew
John Drew is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Buckingham. His research has concentrated on Dickens’s non-fictional writings on which he is an acknowledged authority. He co-edited with Michael Slater volume 4 of the Dent Uniform Edition of Dickens’ Journalism (2000) and is author of Dickens the Journalist, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).
A Video of the Book
You can view a short video here. This video is 3.8MB and requires Windows Media Player.
Description
The edition is limited to 300 copies, printed in black and dark red, with dark red borders and rules, the text in Baskerville, on two Arab presses: typography and design by George Miller, printed and bound by George and Jessie Miller. Numbers 1-60 are on Khadi handmade paper, 61-300 on Simili Japon, a smooth cream watermarked Dutch paper. The handmade paper copies will be available later in the year in gold tooled full leather, boxed. If you whish to pre-order a Khadi handmade paper copy, please submit your details on our pre-order form.
You can order the the Simili Japon copies now at £90, on our ordering page.
The Simili Japon copies are bound in quarter black Taipie kid, a fine grained leather with a polish second only to that produced by Warren’s blacking. The top edges are trimmed and coloured with a dull metallic burnish, others uncut, the spines lettered in 23.5 carat gold leaf.
The sides are covered with Fabriano Ingres with a pattern illustrating contrasting aspects of Victorian life, stately wealth and the “dark Satanic mills” where much of it was made. The paper was designed by Bob Guy and printed by him on an Atlas iron press. Each copy is in a white lined slipcase, the top and bottom edges covered with the Taipie kid, sides and spine with the same paper as the covers only printed black and dull red/gold on black.
Find out more about the production process, and Charles Dickens and the story behind the poems.
High Resolution Images
- Image 1 - The Book (2.0MB)
- Image 2 - Book & Case (1.8MB)
- Image 3 - Book Cover (2.0MB)
- Image 4 - Uncut Edges (2.0MB)
- Image 5 - Top Edge (1.8MB)
- Image 6 - Book & Case (1.7MB)
- Image 7 - ‘Soft Fell the Dew’ Engraving (2.0MB)
You can also download a single Zip file (12MB) containing the 6 high resolution images.