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Rare prints and maps...Since 1918! Click here to go to Darvill's home page.

Since Adirondack Retro acquired Darvill's Rare Prints in August of 2022, we have been working tirelessly on our New State-Of-The Art Website. We are excited to announce that it is now up and running and that our massive inventory of Antique Prints and Rare Maps are being transferred over to the new site daily. In addition to the nearly 500,000 prints found on www.DarvillsRarePrints.com, Adirondack Retro offers an eclectic selection of Antique and Vintage Advertisements along with their Limited Edition Giclee Prints. During this transition, customers will still be able to shop and make purchases on www.DarvillsRarePrints.com.

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Darvill's Rare Prints is pleased to offer a huge selection of original Henry Alken prints from various publications.

The original, hand-coloured etchings featured below are from:

Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities

Written by Robert Smith Surtees
Illustrated by Henry Alken

Published in London by George Routledge & Sons and L.C. Gent
— 1874 —

Sheet size is approximately 5.75 x 9.25 inches.
Please click on the images below for an enlarged view.

We have many more prints by Phiz...
please see the Satire/Humor page by clicking here.

A bit about
Henry Alken:

Sporting artist, engraver and illustrator.

Born in London in 1784 into a family which became celebrated for its sporting artists and engravers. He is said to have worked as a trainer for the Duke of Beaufort, before studying under T. Barker Beaumont, the miniaturist, and he exhibited miniatures at the RA in 1801-02.

He moved to Melton Mowbray in 1810 to train horses. and eke out a livelihood in decorating trays with hunting scenes. His success really began when he issued prints under the name of "Ben Tally Ho" in 1813 and was at his most prolific in the 1820s and 1830s. His work was less interesting after that date and he died in poverty on April 8, 1851. His son H.G. Alken copied his father's work extensively.

Alken illustrations and separate prints are lively and very colourful and are closer to the 18th century caricature than to the 18th century sporting print. He enlarged Gillray's idea that the mishaps of hunting could be depicted in the same format as scenes of The chase and his publisher was significantly Thomas M'Lean of 'The Repository of Wit and Humour.'

Shaw Sparrow considers that he was most influential in creating a medium in which Phiz, Leech, and Caldecott could flourish. His Sketchbook, 1823 and Scrapbook, 1824 with pages crammed with nearly related but separated incidents, may have influended strip stories in the Victorian magazines. His drawings are most often seen in soft pencil with colour washes.

(from The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists, 1800-1914 by Simon Houfe)

Jorrocks's hunt breakfast  A terrible surprise
Jorrocks's hunt breakfast —
A terrible surprise
$35
Oh Gentlemen, Gentlemen! Here's a lamentable occurrence.
Oh Gentlemen, Gentlemen! Here's a lamentable occurrence.
$35
Water, I do declare  with worms in it
Water, I do declare — with worms in it
$35
Mr. Jorrocks makes a faux pas
Mr. Jorrocks makes a faux pas
$40
Lift me up! Tie me in my chair! Fill my glass!
Lift me up! Tie me in my chair! Fill my glass!
We have many more original Alken prints on the Humor and Satire page