Eidolon

PRESENTATION COPY, FONDLY INSCRIBED WITH A LENGTHY MANUSCRIPT NOTE. Small 8vo., bound in green chagrin leather with decorative borders in gilt to both boards; five raised bands, lettered in gilt to second and third compartments; the others with highly decorative gilt tooling; date to foot; gilt turn-ins and edges; publisher’s device to title; pp. [ix], viii-xii, [i], 2-240, [ii]; an excellent copy, with a little rubbing to edges of boards, spine evenly browned; hinges a little cracked, but holding firm; some scattered spotting, mostly affecting the prelims. First edition, dedicated to Charles Peel. Along with the printed dedication, this copy is inscribed by the author in the year of publication to the front free endpaper: “To / Charles Peel / from his affectionate friend / W. R. Cassels / October 4th 1850”. The following blank contains a lengthy, and heartfelt manuscript note, penned at the same time as the inscription, and initialled ‘W. R. C’. It reads: “Dear Friend! True brother in that inward bond of spiritual birthright, that shall hold when all the ties of earth and flesh dissolve, thus do I bear to thee the spiritual fruit of our young summer’s dreaming - youth hath found the gold beneath the rainbow of its hopes, that hath enriched full many a lonely hour with peaceful pleasure, and unsating joy - not all in vain the arrows we shot forth, at venture, through the future - some are wide, but some stand quivering in the eagle’s heart. Ah! Those blest days! Ne’er may this memory fade, but rest like sun-gleams on the misty past, spots for the heart to bask in - Ofttimes yet they rise before me, angel-like, and breathe whispers of converse sweet wherein our hearts drew sunny pictures on the scroll of life, read brightly the mysterious book of fate, and opening wide the floodgates of the soul bade the twin currents mingle - for their sake let then this book find favor in thine eyes and still remain a token ‘twixt our hearts of mutual love, and much true fellowship.” The first published work by Walter R. Cassels, and a collection of poems in which he attempts to “symbol the course of a Poet’s mind from a state wherein thought is disordered, barren and uncultivated, to that which is ordered and swayed by the true Spirit of Poetry, and holds its perfect creed.” Cassels was born in London, and published two volumes of poetry in the 1850s - the present example, along with Poems (1856), published by Smith, Elder & Co. Following the publications he traveled to Italy, where he spent three years, befriending the poets Elizabeth and Robert Browning, who had moved to the country in 1846 following their secret wedding. Cassels and Peel - the latter being the dedicatee of this volume - later both became partners in the prominent 19th-century British merchant firm Peel, Cassels & Co., which operated out of Bombay, India. He is perhaps best known today for his anonymously-published work Supernatural Religion, in which he highly controversially attacked not only the credibility of miracles but also the validity of the entire New Testament. He never publicly acknowledged his authorship of the work. The best possible association copy.…