Salix Babylonia. The Weeping Willow

Wellesley, Richard, 1st Marquis Wellesley

Published by privately printed, N.p., n.d. [Fern Hill, Windsor, 1839

About this Item

First printing? Certainly the first separate printing. Large 8vo, pp. [4]; bound in contemporary, and likely original, purple velvet-covered boards, maroon morocco label lettered in gilt on upper cover; recently rebacked; the boards worn, with loss to the velvet, corners worn, but text clean and the binding sound. The text leaves show signs of having been folded. The blank flyleaves show no signs of having been folded. A likely scenario suggests that Lord Wellesley had his pair of poems privately printed up on a bifolium, in probably a very small print run, and gave copies to a few select friends. One of these friends esteemed the poems and /or author to such an extent that he or she had the piece bound up specially in this rather deluxe binding. So, not the printer's binding, nor the author's, but instead commissioned or arranged for by the recipient. This separate printing seems to precede the volume from which the text is usually known, namely his book Primitiae et Reliquiae, which was published first in 1840. Wellesley was Governor-General of India, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and had several other prominent roles, not least being eldest brother to the Duke of Wellington, hero of Waterloo. He was also renowned throughout his life, though perhaps mostly among his literary friends, as a superb Neo-Latin and English poet. Unlocated. No copy located in COPAC, OCLC, or KVK. No copy in the British Library or Library of Congress. Not in NUC. "In 1840 he privately printed (and often revised later) a little book entitled Primitię et Reliquię, for the most part composed of Latin verses written by him at different periods of his life. In 1841, on the occasion of a statue being erected in honour of his brother by the citizens of London, he wrote a Latin inscription. Several of his Latin poems appeared in the Anthologia Oxoniensis. But Wellesley's literary studies were not confined to the ancient classics; he was a good Italian scholar and had an extensive knowledge of the Italian poets, and especially of Dante. Shakespeare also was often quoted in his letters and despatches." In The Wellesley Papers (1914), there are letters to Wellesley from the poet Samuel Rogers and the headmaster John Keate (vol. 2, pp. 358-359). One dates to the very end of 1839; the other dates to the very beginning of 1840. In both letters the writers appear to be thanking Wellesley for receiving a gift from him of the Latin and English versions of his poem "Salix Babylonica." Are both Rogers and Keate referring to this printing, where the poems are issued as a pair? Keate writes, "No one, who has any taste for poetry, can fail to admire both the Latin and English verses. I hardly know to which I give the preference. They are both, in my opinion, equal to the highest strains of our Eton poet, Gray" (pp. 358-359).

Seller Inventory # 51233

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Salix Babylonia. The Weeping Willow
• Publisher: privately printed, N.p., n.d. [Fern Hill, Windsor
• Publication Date: 1839
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
  • English Literature
  • Poetry