ELFRIDA, a dramatic poem. Written on the model of the ancient Greek tragedy. The sixth edition, corrected. London: printed for J. Knapton in Ludgate-Street. 1759. [with:] CARACTACUS, a dramatic poem: written on the model of the ancient Greek tragedy. By the author of Elfrida. The second edition.

Two works in one volume, 8vo, pp. [iv], xix, [i], 80; vii, [i], 96; contemporary sprinkled calf, gilt spine (very slightly chipped at foot), morocco label; marbled endpapers. Two poetic dramas, both issued in 1759, by William Mason, friend of Horace Walpole and Thomas Gray. This copy is something special, as it was the gift to an unidentified person from one of the Walpole circle, and is inscribed on the endpaper: 'Dono dedit amicus, Horatius Mann, Charissimus'. Sir Horace Mann (1706-86) was the British consul in Florence for almost fifty years, welcoming British visitors to the city and becoming an institution in his own right. More than that, he was the intimate friend and long-term correspondent of Horace Walpole: they never met after 1741, but their correspondence numbers nearly two thousand letters. Mann must have known Mason, although not personally, as Mason never went to Italy and Mann never returned home after the late 1730s. One wonders to whom this book was presented, but aside from the handwriting of the recipient, there seems to be no clue.…