First Ode Second Book Horace: First Edition (1 results)

First edition, second issue. 11pp, [1]. Recent calf. Extremities rubbed. Leaves browned and spotted. The second issue, printed in the year after the first, of Jonathan Swift's (1667-1745) ludicrous paraphrase on the first ode of the second book of Horace; in actuality an entirely original composition ridiculing Richard Steele (bap. 1672, d. 1729). In the early years of the eighteenth century, Swift had risen to become the leading Tory propagandist, with Steele his political opposite number. The object of the First Ode was to deflate the credibility of his Whig opponent prior to the imminent publication of The Crisis (19th January, 1714), Steele's seditious pamphlet attacking the Tories for their perceived lack of concern regarding rumours of a possible Catholic succession as Queen Anne's health had begun to fail. (see item 10). ESTC T35561 (variant, with catchword on p.3: 'Thou'). Size: Quarto.…