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First edition thus. Published at a time of intense Whig activity in the press, and an eloquent contribution to the current political debate on constitutional liberty, Thompson's "luxurious" edition (ODNB) was the first to bring Marvell's poems in praise of Cromwell - excised from previous editions - to public notice, and the first to include the author's works in prose. Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) was an English politician, a colleague and friend of John Milton during the Commonwealth period, and a prolific poet. Praised for his country house poems and Latin verses, he was the author of the famous carpe diem lyric To His Coy Mistress. Formerly a royalist, Marvell composed An Horatian Ode upon Cromwell's Return from Ireland in 1650, celebrating Cromwell as the dominant figure in the new republic. This poem, considered "one of the greatest political poems in English" (ODNB), was followed by two others entitled The First Anniversary and A Poem upon the Death of O.C. These three controversial works were excluded from Boulter's early edition of his poems (Miscellaneous Poems, 1681), and did not appear in print until the present edition. Marvell's "posthumous reputation as a proto-whig defender of constitutional liberties and a 'sincere and daring Patriot'" (ODNB) prompted Edward Thompson (c. 1738-1786), naval officer and author, to produce this new complete edition of his works. Thompson had access to "a treasury of Marvell materials" originally gathered by Thomas Hollis (1720-1774) as part of his "mission of preserving for posterity the canon of Whig political thought" (Dzelzainis and Patterson, p. xxxvi). Among the subscribers notably were Burke, Wilkes, who had recently delivered a speech opposing the king's position in the American colonies, the American revolution leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, Thomas Erskine, and the Whig historian Catherine Macaulay. Martin Dzelzainis & Annabel Patterson, eds., The Prose Works of Andrew Marvell, 2003 3 vols, large quarto (293 x 227 mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece in vol. I. Contemporary tan calf, spines with gilt raised bands, elaborate foliate decoration in gilt to compartments, black and brown morocco labels, covers bordered in gilt with small flower tools to corners, board edges and turn-ins ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Vol. I with early 19th-century visiting card of Sir William Abraham Chatterton, 2nd Baronet (1794-1855) loosely inserted; William was a regular guest of King William IV, and his wife, Lady Georgiana (1806-1876), was a famous traveller and author. Board edges lightly rubbed, corners and joints of all vols sometime repaired, inner hinges of vols. I and III strengthened, some scuffs and marks to covers, leather remaining quite bright, occasional foxing to contents, but generally crisp and clean. A very good, wide-margined set, presenting attractively.
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