18 numbers or volumes (of 20, lacking Nos. 15, 19), 12mo (165 x 108 mm, 159 x 108 mm). First state of the frontispiece portrait of "Launcelot Langstaff" in No. 8. (Light toning, occasional spotting.) ORIGINAL PRINTED WRAPPERS, UNCUT (spine worn on No.1; scorch mark on vol.1 front wrapper, some edgewear and toning, occasional spotting and soiling, occasional penciled issue and state notations to front covers).

A NEAR-COMPLETE RUN IN THE ORIGINAL WRAPPERS OF WASHINGTON IRVING'S SATIRICAL MAGAZINE, FAMOUS FOR GIVING NEW YORK CITY THE NICKNAME "GOTHAM."

FIRST EDITIONS, FIRST STATES of Nos. I-III, IX, X, XVI, and XVIII, the rest as second or mixed states, with the following issue points listed by Bowden: first four volumes lacking copyright claims on front covers; No. 1 is a first edition, state "B" (neither sequence of first two states given priority by Bowden; BAL and Langfeld & Blackburn first state) according to Bowden with all first issue points present; No. 2 is a first edition, state "A" with all first issue points present; No. 3 is a first edition, state "A" with all first issue points; No. 4 is an intermediate state lacking copyright notice as with previous numbers; No. 8 is an intermediate state with first state of woodcut portrait depicting Launcelot Langstaff.

Bibliographers William R. Langfeld and Philip C. Blackburn note that as of 1931 fewer than five true first edition, first issues of No. 1 in the original wrappers were known to exist, as "the first edition wrapper may have been only a trial issue. If [publisher] Longworth wished to protect his copyright, he would have had to print a copyright notice, which he at once did."

Washington Irving, his brother William, and James Kirke Paulding conceived Salmagundi to lampoon New York City culture and politics. A variety of pseudonyms were used, among them Launcelot Langstaff, Pindar Cockloft, Will Wizard, and Mustapha Rub-a-Dub Keli Khan. Neither its authors nor its publisher, David Longworth, were prepared for its success, and it ran for less than a year before being discontinued over a dispute with Longworth over profits. It did, however, establish Washington Irving's literary reputation, with his first major work, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker, published in 1809.

EXCEEDINGLY RARE: Only two complete sets of Salmagundi in their original wrappers have been recorded at auction. Although lacking Nos. 15 and 19, the present near-complete set contains the exceptionally rare first editions, first state of No. 1 in its original wrappers—a feature absent from the two previously offered complete sets. BAL 10097; Bowden, pp.3-86; Langfeld & Blackburn, pp.5-11.