This is a three-volume set of the Tours of Doctor Syntax, written by William Combe, illustrated by Thomas Rowlandson, and published by Nattali and Bond circa 1855.
The three titles are a) The First Tour Of Doctor Syntax, In Search Of The Picturesque;
b) The Second Tour Of Doctor Syntax, In Search Of Consolation, and c) The Third Tour
Of Doctor Syntax, In Search Of A Wife. All three volumes were written by William Combe and illustrated by Thomas Rowlandson, with a total of eighty plates by Rowlandson in the three volumes, and all three were published in London by Nattali
and Bond around 1855. The books are undated, but Nattali and Bond published this
set in 1855 and 1860, and the 1860 set had a catalogue of books at the rear, which is lacking here, so this set had to be published around 1855; this is also the ninth edition, according to the vignette title page in the first volume, and the ninth edition was published in 1855, so that confirms the approximate date of publication.
Each volume is 3/4 bound, with five raised bands, six gilt-ruled compartments and gilt lettering in two panels on the spine, marbled boards and marbled endpapers, with a list of the plates following the blank page after the title page, and all the edges are marbled in each volume. All the plates were hand-colored aquatints, and all are present here - 31 plates in the first volume, 24 in the second, and 25 in the last, for a total of 80 plates by Rowlandson (including the colored frontispieces and vignette title pages in the first and third volumes), and there are 272 pages in the first volume, 277 in the second, and 279 pages in the third volume.
The books are 8vo. and measure 9 3/4 x 6 1/2 in. wide, the bindings are tight, and other than light offset on page 225 and a light brown spot on page 276 in the second volume, the text and plates are exceptionally clean and crisp throughout; there are light rubs on the bands of the spines and light wear at the tips and along the outer edges of the boards, and all the plates are present and filled with the color and satire Rowlandson is known for.