The Cabinet of Genius containing Frontispieces and Characters adapted to the most Popular Poems, &c. with the Poems, &c. at large. [Plates Printed in Sepia]

sm4to, 19.8x 15.5cm, First edition., two volume in One, various paginations, engraved title and 78 engraved plates (of 95), in later (19th cent) full brown calf, black ruled and decorated raised bands, small black stamped device decorations in the panels, the rules are tied over the hinges onto the boards, blind stamped borders on the boads, margin of one plate reinforced; french marbled endpapers, edges stain red as suits the period, very good to fine condition (ds1.Lt). ~ Fine stipple-engraved plates, printed in sepia, by Charles Taylor and John Ogborne, both students of Bartolozzi, renowned British engraver. These were executed after designs by Robert Smirke (1752-1845) and Samuel Shelley (1750-1808); the authors represented in this work include Shakespeare, Gay, Dryden, Pope, Milton, Goldsmith, Burns, etc. The work was published from parts issued by Charles Taylor and this copy, as all others we have checked, lacks some of the parts and some plates. Other defective copies cited in the ESTC include those at the British Library, the Bodleian and the Huntington. While it would seem to top and bottom margins were trimmed other copies refers to here were similar sizes and colliations to this copy.…