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Quarto, 10 in. x 7.5 in., pp. 33. Paper-covered monthly publication recently rebound in brown cloth boards with gilt title to spine. Original cover bound in. Exterior boards are like new. Original paper cover has rubbed edges and light soiling, with chips to top corner and fore-edge. New endpapers. a h A half-dozen or fewer instances of one-word underlining in pen, to text. Light-toning to pages. Original back cover of publication not present. Quite scarce. One copy in National Library of Ireland (Dublin). From the verso of the title page; "Morsels of rare or curious information, or anecdote, biographical, traditional, historical, or legendary, relating to any locality within seven or eight miles of Belfast, shall be thankfully attended to, if forwarded to the "Author of Rambles," &c., at the office of the Publisher, 9, High Street, Belfast" This is the "No. 1" edition of the publication. No other editions are known to WorldCat (which cites ony two copies of this No. 1 publication) Francis Davis (1810-85), poet, was born 7 or 17 March 1810 in Ballincollig, Co. Cork, or in Belfast.His father impulsively enlisted in the cavalry because of a passion for horses and (though bought out by his wife) reenlisted and lost the family farm, was dismissed as unfit after an accident, and died penniless. Francis's mother taught Francis to read, hoping that he would become a minister, and introduced him to poetry and music. After his mother died, he worked in Lisburn for a rich relation, a cess-collector, who treated him badly; he then went to work as a muslin-weaver. He studied by himself and taught himself several languages. When he refused to join the Orange Order his fellow workers forced him to leave his employment; he visited Scotland and worked for a time in Manchester, where he met Irish emigrants who introduced him to the romantic nationalism of his namesake Thomas Davis. Many of Francis Davis's poems were published in the Nation in the 1840s . He edited and wrote most of a shortlived magazine, the Belfastman's Journal (1850), and later worked as a proofreader in a publishing house, and as a reporter; he was librarian of the Belfast People's Institute until he was appointed (1860) assistant registrar of QCB. .He was at one time described as 'Belfast's brightest ornament' , but was almost forgotten at his death in Belfast on 7 October 1885. (from Dictionary of Irish Biography).
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