The English Parnassus: Or, a Help to English Poesie. Containing a Collection of all the Rhythming Monosyllables, the choicest Epithets and Phrases. With some General Forms upon all Occasions, Subjects, and Themes, Alphabetically digested

Joshua Poole

Published by Henry Brome, Thomas Bassett, and John Wright, London, 1677

About this Item

London: Henry Brome, Thomas Bassett, and John Wright, 1677. Second Edition. Small octavo; contemporary gilt-tooled calf, elaborately gilt-tooled spine in six compartments, all edges stained red, supplied endpapers; [32],639,[1]pp.; A8 a8 B-2S8 (collated complete); engraved frontispiece printed on leaf [A1]. Boards sympathetically reattached though hairline crack along joints remain, extremities a bit scuffed and rather darkened, 20th-century bookseller description and attractive ownership ex libris to front pastedown, else a Very Good, attractive copy overall. First published in 1657, Joshua Poole's Parnassus provided the young poet (a student, based on the charming frontispiece) with a thesaurus-like dictionary of poetic terms. Struggling to describe a pomegranate? Poole suggests "Delicious, vermilion, blushing, juicy, many-kernell'd." Of special interest are the manuscript additions made in an early hand. The work is preceded by a useful "Alphabet of monosylables [sic]" and a list of "Books principally made use of in the compiling of this Work," though referring to "Comedies and Tragedies, Many," is rather vague. [ESTC R18752; WING P2815].

Seller Inventory # 14829

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The English Parnassus: Or, a Help to English Poesie. Containing a Collection of all the Rhythming Monosyllables, the choicest Epithets and Phrases. With some General Forms upon all Occasions, Subjects, and Themes, Alphabetically digested
• Publisher: Henry Brome, Thomas Bassett, and John Wright, London
• Publication Date: 1677
• Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • 17th Century
  • Language
  • Reference
  • England / English Writers
  • Poetry