Background:

These delightful prints are from the First Tours of Dr. Syntax highlighting the fictional escapades of the 1800s British clergyman Dr. Syntax.  The illustrations are by English caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson, brother-in-law of the sporting artist Samuel Howitt.  Interestingly, Rowlandson reversed the illustrative process by first drawing a series of sketches and then James Combe wrote the whimsical narrative about the activities of Dr. Syntax.  This series is one of the best parodies of the more traditional narratives on journeys to different parts of England featuring more "serious" landscape illustrations and prose.