OCCASIONAL POEMS, TRANSLATIONS, FABLES, TALES, &c. …

SOMERVILE, William.

Published by London: printed for Bernard Lintot at t he Cross-Keys between the Temple-Gates Fleet-street, 1727

About this Item

8vo, pp. vi, 392; contemporary calf, gilt, rebacked, much of the original spine preserved, later brown morocco label. First edition: the author's first substantial book; only a single imitation of Horace had as yet appeared in print. William Somervile spent his entire life at his family estate at Edstone in Warwickshire. He had a passion for hunting, and an abiding interest in writing poetry, much of which reflected his involvement in rural pursuits. His early poems circulated in manuscript for some time before publication, and he formed literary relationships with such writers as Allan Ramsay, and the younger poets William Shenstone and Richard Jago. Samuel Johnson, in his Lives of the Poets, describes Somervile as 'a man, who at least must be allowed to have set a good example to men of his own class, by devoting part of his time to elegant knowledge, and who has shewn, by the subjects which his poetry has adorned, that it is practicable to be at once a skilful sportsman and a man of letters.' This is a presentation copy, inscribed on the flyleaf opposite the title page: 'Eliz. Mason her Book Given by the Author'. Later owned by Sir Humphrey Edmund de Trafford, bt, with his modern bookplate on pastedown. Foxon p. 742. This copy is on ordinary paper, without a watermark.

Seller Inventory # 24257

Bibliographic Details

• Title: OCCASIONAL POEMS, TRANSLATIONS, FABLES, TALES, &c. …
• Publisher: London: printed for Bernard Lintot at t he Cross-Keys between the Temple-Gates Fleet-street
• Publication Date: 1727
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Poetry