Mid-eighteenth century bound collection of 'Graveyard' poems including elegies and meditations such as the earliest publication by John Scott of Amwell (the first notable Quaker poet) and works by Thomas Gray, Edward Young, John Delap and Reginald Heber.
Small quarto bound in eighteenth century speckled calf, the boards decorated with a border of coronets, cracking along outer hinges, reinforced within. Two faded spine labels: 'Select Poems Vol I'. Marbled edges to text block. All eleven imprints are complete with the exception of a couple of half-title which are noted below. One of the imprints, Keate's Epistle from Jane Gray, has been sent through the post and still bears an address on the verso of the title page and traces of the wax seal.
Eleven imprints:
J Langhorne, The Visions of Fancy, 1752, H Payne, pp24 (no half-title); ownership stamp of 'Emile Racaud, La Rochelle', ESTC locates 9 copies
William Whitehead Elegies with an Ode to the Tiber, 2nd Ed, 1757, Dodsley, pp24, half-title present; 'Boitard sculp' vignette to title page.
John Delap, Elegies, 1760, Dodsley, pp12: ESTC locates 10 copies. Delap wrote these Elegies in imitation of Gray's Elegy, subsequently making his name by writing for David Garrick.
[Reginald Heber] An Elegy Written among the Tombs in Westminster Abbey, 1762, Dodsley, pp12
[Thomas Gray]An Elegy Written in a Country Church Yard The Eleventh Edition, 1759, Dodsley, pp12; woodcut decorations to title page
[John Scott] Four Elegies Descriptive and Moral, Buckland, 1760, pp24; engraved vignette by Grignion and Wale to title page and engraved tailpiece; half title present. The Elegies are Scott's first separate publication and inspired by Gray they record the passing of the seasons rather than an individual. The verses are written in cross-rhymed quatrains
[Edward Jerningham] The Magdalens: an Elegy. By the author of the Nunnery, 1763, Dodsley, pp12; ESTC locates 7 copies; printed dedication to Mary Lepel of Ickworth in Suffolk.
William Mason, Elegies... Second Edition, 1763, Robert Horsfield [4] pp22
[George Keate] An Epistle from Lady Jane Gray to Lord Guilford Dudley, 1762, Dodsley, [4] pp20: this has been folded and sent through the post early in its life with an eighteenth century address written on the verso of the title page 'For Mr George Laidler at Newcastle on T[yne]' and a hole to title page where wax seal has been opened. The poem is dedicated to Mary Lepel.
[Edward Young] Resignation in Two Parts and a Postscript to Mrs B[oscawen], 1762, William Owen, pp64, advertisement leaf follows title page with 'Erratum' leaf pasted to verso of this leaf, A2. Small loss to A1/A2 close to foreedge at head of page. Young's last work published in his own lifetime. No copy at auction since 1933.
[Thomas Denton] The House of Superstition. A Poem, 1762, J Hinxman, [2] pp10; half title present. a poem written in imitation of Spenser's Faerie Queen.
