Familiar Letters: Vol. I. Written by the Right Honourable John, late Earl of Rochester, to the Honourable Henry Savile, Esq; And other Letters by Persons of Honour and Quality. With Letters Written by the most Ingenious Mr. Thomas Otway, and Mrs. K. Phillips. Publish d from their Original Copies. With Modern Letters, by Tho. Cheek, Esq; Mr. Dennis, And Mr. Brown. [Bound with] Familiar Letters: Vol.II. Containing Thirty Six Letters, By the Right Honourable John, late Earl of Rochester. Printed from his Original Papers. With Letters and Speeches, by the late Duke of Buckingham, The Honble Henry Savile, Esq; Sir Geo. Etheridge, to several Person of Honour. And Letters By several Eminent Hands.

WILMOT, JOHN, Earl of Rochester.

Published by London: Printed for Nath. Sackett at the Heart and Bible in Cornhill [- Vol. II for Rich. Wellington, at the Lute in St. Paul s Church-yard], 1699.

2 vols. in one: [xvi], 223, [1]; and [xii], 223, [1]pp., 8vo. Without the initial advertisement leaf in each volume, certainly cancelled by the publisher as the advertisements were for Richard Wellington publications and this issue has Nathaniel Sackett s cancel title-leaf; the leaf of Wellington advertisements after A8 is, however, present; some spotting, as usual from the poor paper stock. Contemporary sprinkled dark calf, the gilt spine label chipped and with splits at the head and foot of the joints, still sound. "The Third Edition, with Additions," first published in 1697. All editions of this important epistolary miscellany are rare. It is the primary source for Rochester s letters, documenting, as Dr. Johnson put it, a life "blazed out in lavish voluptuousness." It is full, as Rochester s modern editor puts it, of the same "humour and metaphorical energy" that charges the poems, including some wonderful gibes at Dryden: I m out of favour with a certain Poet, whom I have ever admir d, for the disproportion of him and his Attributes: He is a Rarity which I cannot but be fond of, as one would of a Hog that could fiddle, or a singing Owl. The collection also contains a number of fine letters by the poet Katharine Phillips (on pp. 137-152 in Vol. I) and Vol. II has "Four Letters by Mrs. J. Price, to Madam Roberts" (p. 45-49), as well as "Madam Peachy s Letter to Mr. Bulstrode at White-Hall," "A Letter to Dorinda," and some "modern letters" by John Dryden, Tom Brown, and John Dennis. The first volume may have been edited by Tom Brown, who signs the dedicatory epistle, and the second was edited by Charles Gildon. Wing, Short-Title Catalogue 1641-1700, R1745A and R1748. Seller Inventory # 14195

Bibliographic Details

Title: Familiar Letters: Vol. I. Written by the ...
Publisher: London: Printed for Nath. Sackett at the Heart and Bible in Cornhill [- Vol. II for Rich. Wellington, at the Lute in St. Paul s Church-yard], 1699.
Binding: Hardcover