VERSES, by the Rev. R.N. French, of Foremark, Derbyshire.

8vo in fours, pp. xi, [i], 168; bound with a copy of an early work by Byron; in contemporary half calf over moiré cloth, a bit rubbed and slightly chipped. With the binder's label of David Condie, Worcester. First and only edition, and a presentation copy, inscribed on the title page: 'From the Author'. The recipient's name is almost entirely cropped from the top right of the title page, leaving only 'M.A Wi' but fortunately the name is written in full on the title page to the second work in the volume as 'Mary Ann Winkworth'. I cannot, however, trace her although she probably lived in or near Worcester, because the binding was made there. David Condie is recorded by Ramsden (p. 54) as active in Worcester in the 1830s. The Rev. Robert Nicholas French (c. 1775-1862) had been educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge; soon after this, in 1811, he became rector of Osmaston, Derbyshire, and remained there for the rest of his long life. His poems are largely secular, and include at least ten sonnets (a form becoming increasingly popular at this time) and several elegies. The volume is dedicated to Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden: that is, Gustav IV Adolf (1778-1837), who was to be deposed in a coup the following year. Bound second in the volume is a copy of Byron's English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (London, 1809). Johnson, Provincial Poetry, 348.…