A very good three volume set of William Combe's Tours of Doctor Syntax, the hilarious misadventures of a foolish clergyman and schoolmaster, a kind of English Don Quixote. 
 
Featuring seventy-five Thomas Rowlandson hand-colored aquatint plates plus the hand-colored aquatint frontispiece to each, and hand-colored additional titles for volume I & III. Includes The Tour of Doctor Syntax, In Search of the Picturesque ~ The Second Tour of Doctor Syntax, In Search of Consolation ~The Third Tour of Doctor Syntax, In Search of a Wife. Published by R. Ackermann, London between 1819-1821. Volume I, 9th edition stated on the vignette title page with the advertisement to the ninth edition. Volumes II & IIII are third editions. 
 
Condition: 8vo. Vol. 1 - 276 pages, Vol. 2 -Each bound in the mid nineteenth century by London Bookbinders Remnant and Edmonds with their label at rear of volume 1 and with an Armorial bookplate affixed to the front of volume 3. Attractive cloth boards stamped in blind on the covers and in gilt on the spine. Top edge gilt, with yellow endpapers. Edgewear with corners and spine tips bumped and rubbed with a bit of fraying. Intermittent foxing to a few pages, hinges cracked in volumes 1 & 3 and a few signatures pulled but still holding with offsetting to several pages and a few corners creased. 
 
Original Rowlandson Art - This set includes 2 Original Thomas Rowlandson hand colored Aquatint illustrations from Doctor Syntax first tour "In search of the Picturesque."  "Doctor Syntax sells Grizzle." (plate 19) approx. 8 1/2" x 5 1/4".  Drawn and etched by Rowlandson in London April 1st of 1813 at R. Ackermann's Repository of Arts 101, Strand. A bit of foxing and fading to colors. "Doctor Syntax Loses his Way." (Plate 2) approx. 9" x 6". Drawn and etched by Rowlandson in London February 1st of 1819 at R. Ackermann's Repository of Arts 101, Strand. Some foxing and toning with a light dampstain visible along the upper edge. 
 
Overall, a very nice set of Combe and Rowlandson's classic satirical poem.