Lamb Mathew (3 results)

hardcover. Condition: New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!

Both items excessively scarce, with the only copies traced on OCLC WorldCat and COPAC at the British Library. The leaves of both have been separated, but comparison with other copies confirms that they are both complete, and otherwise in good condition, with slight wear, and the two leaves of the second item laid down on a piece of paper. ONE: By 'J. M. G.' Title-page: 'The Old Oaken Chair: | Addressed to | Different Members of his Family. | By J. M. G.' 8pp., 12mo. A neat production, originally on two bifoliums. Gutch's name completed in pencil on title-page, with note: 'Only 12 printed'. Prefatory note: 'WRITTEN in my 76th year, upon receiving from my Brother, GEORGE GUTCH, an OAKEN CHAIR, as a companion to a curiously carved LIBRARY TABLE he had previously sent me.' The poem, in blank verse, covers pp.5-8, and begins: 'OLD OAKEN CHAIR! I love thy antique form, | Thou bring'st to my remembrance the review | Of by-gone days and scenes; - the love I bear | To him, who sent another gift to suit | This room, the shelves of which contain | Volumes of early lore, of poetry divine; | Of that which helps to meditation, | And recalls the mind from earth to heav'n.' The poem refers to the loss of a parent (his wife?), 'kind Mary Anne'. The latter part of the poem concerns the travels in the Aegean of his son J. W. G. Gutch, with six footnotes, the first two reading: 'My son, a Queen's Foreign Messenger, was at this period sent with despatches to Sir William Parker and Mr. Wyse, respecting the settlement of the affairs of Greece.' and 'After delivering the despatches, he was permitted to land at Athens, and had sufficient time and opportunity to visit the celebrated classical scenes which surround the city.' TWO (by 'H. B. T.)': Title-page: 'The Old Oaken Chair. | Dedcated | (without permission) | to | Mrs. Gutch.' 2pp., 12mo. Originally a bifolium, with title-page on recto of the first leaf and poem on the recto of the second. Uniform in design with Item One. Poem dated at end: 'H. B. T. | Worcester, | 7th October, 1850.' Twelve-line poem in three four-line stanzas: 'FULL many chairs on dais placed, | Have held both knaves and fools; | Some who their Country's cause betrayed, | Some who were party's tools. | But here's an honest chair of oak, | Which holds an honest man; | Whose life will bear the scrutiny | Of Honour's closest scan. | Dear Madam, let me breathe a wish, | (As you will breathe a prayer,) | That years may pass ere you shall sigh, | "Ah! there's the VACANT CHAIR!"'.

Both poems excessively scarce, with the only copies traced on OCLC WorldCat and COPAC at the British Library. The three items wrapped in letterhead of 'Merrixton House, | near Stepaside, | Pembrokeshire', with anonymous manuscript note, dated 3 July 1915, stating that 'only about a dozen copies were printed'. (Another copy consulted bears the pencil note 'Only 12 printed'.) ONE: By 'J. M. G.' Title-page: 'The Old Oaken Chair: | Addressed to | Different Members of his Family. | By J. M. G.' 8pp., 12mo. A neat production on two bifoliums, unbound and unstitched. In good condition, lightly aged. Prefatory note: 'WRITTEN in my 76th year, upon receiving from my Brother, GEORGE GUTCH, an OAKEN CHAIR, as a companion to a curiously carved LIBRARY TABLE he had previously sent me.' The poem, in blank verse, covers pp.5-8, and begins: 'OLD OAKEN CHAIR! I love thy antique form, | Thou bring'st to my remembrance the review | Of by-gone days and scenes; - the love I bear | To him, who sent another gift to suit | This room, the shelves of which contain | Volumes of early lore, of poetry divine; | Of that which helps to meditation, | And recalls the mind from earth to heav'n.' The poem refers to the loss of a parent (his wife?), 'kind Mary Anne'. The latter part of the poem concerns the travels in the Aegean of his son J. W. G. Gutch, with six footnotes, the first two reading: 'My son, a Queen's Foreign Messenger, was at this period sent with despatches to Sir William Parker and Mr. Wyse, respecting the settlement of the affairs of Greece.' and 'After delivering the despatches, he was permitted to land at Athens, and had sufficient time and opportunity to visit the celebrated classical scenes which surround the city.' TWO: Another copy of Item One. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with the leaves detached and folded and mounted on stubs. Autograph note by Gutch on the title page: 'To his dear Daughter | Frances Gutch'. The Oxford DNB states that Gutch's only child was his son J. W. G. Gutch. THREE: By 'H. B. T.' Title-page: 'The Old Oaken Chair. | Dedicated | (without permission) | to | Mrs. Gutch.' 2pp., 12mo. Bifolium, with title-page on recto of the first leaf and poem on the recto of the second. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with discoloration and slight damage along gutter. Uniform in design with Item One. Poem dated at end: 'H. B. T. | Worcester, | 7th October, 1850.' Twelve-line poem in three four-line stanzas: 'FULL many chairs on dais placed, | Have held both knaves and fools; | Some who their Country's cause betrayed, | Some who were party's tools. | But here's an honest chair of oak, | Which holds an honest man; | Whose life will bear the scrutiny | Of Honour's closest scan. | Dear Madam, let me breathe a wish, | (As you will breathe a prayer,) | That years may pass ere you shall sigh, | "Ah! there's the VACANT CHAIR!"'.