18
56. CLEVELAND, John. the poems of John cleveland. edited by brian morris and eleanor Withington.Oxford at the Clarendon Press. 1967.
£48
8vo., original cloth with price-clipped dust wrapper. spine of wrapper a little sunned otherwise a very good copy.
first printing of the oxford english texts edition. As a poet cleveland enjoyed great fame in his lifetime but nowadays his work is hardly known. opinions differ as to the quality of his poetry, some believing it due for revival and others finding it too much of its own time to bear close scrutiny and representation in ours. his case bears some resemblance
to that of his
contemporary Abraham cowley. cleveland was the son of a yorkshire clergyman who moved to the living of hinckley, leicestershire, in 1621. he was educated at christ’s college, cambridge, and was made a fellow of st John’s in 1634. he was a contemporary of milton at christ’s college, and contributed a poem to the volume of elegies on the death of edward king. he opposed the election of cromwell as mp for cambridge in 1640 and was, like
cowley and crashaw, ejected from his fellowship in 1645; but like them he had already (1643) left cambridge. After two years at oxford he joined the royalist garrison at newark and served as judge-advocate until the surrender of the town in 1646. now destitute, cleveland made his way to london, existing on the kindness of friends, and sometimes contributing to royalist journals. he never compromised his loyalties, not even when arrested and imprisoned (1655-56) on the vague charge of being a dissident royalist. indeed, in a personal appeal to cromwell, he proclaimed his service to his king as a reason for his vindication. his appeal succeeded, and upon his release cleveland returned to london where he spent his last two years at gray’s inn. cleveland’s first published work appeared in the character of london-diurnall; with severall select poems (1644). the same title appeared in 1647, when the volume was entirely cleveland’s. editions of his work followed steadily, an enlarged one of 1651 continuing to be issued and read for ten years or more. he was the author of amatory verse, of ‘character’ that depicted a type of contemporary man in order to reflect his times, and, perhaps most notably, of satires, particularly on presbyterians. the most admired are ‘the rebel scot’ and ‘the king’s disguise.’” (stapleton’s the cambridge guide to english literature).
57. COBDEN-SANDERSON, Thomas James. credo. [doves press] 1906.
£2,995
broadside folio leaf, 472 x 330 mm, printed on kelmscott Apple paper. A fine copy.
one of only a handful of copies printed in 1906 as a broadside for framing. the next year cobden-sanderson printed a few copies as a small 8vo booklet to be distributed to his friends, finally issuing an edition of 250 copies on paper and 18 on vellum in 1908.
this is therefore the first, very rare, appearance of cobden-sanderson’s statement of his philosophical beliefs, an embodiment of his ideals for living “the great book, the book of life”. “cobden-sanderson was eager to print some of the works that had shaped his thinking over the years, about man’s spiritual development, and how a more equal world might be achieved: where the rich would become a little less rich and the poor a little less poor. he tried to show by example in the doves press and bindery the importance of ideals, and how the position of the working man might be raised” (tidcombe). this broadside is the physical expression of cobden-sanderson’s creed, printed as a broadside, to be framed and displayed as a public affirmation of his beliefs.
The quintessential piece of Doves Press ephemera.
tidcombe lists copies at: university of texas Austin (she mentions 5 copies, although their on-line catalogue only lists 2), 1 in a private collection in england, and 1 (signed) copy at Washington university libraries in st louis.
58
57
58.COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. the complete poetical Works of samuel coleridge taylor. including poems and versions of poems now published for the first time. edited with textual and bibliographical notes by ernest hartley coleridge. Oxford at the Clarendon Press. 1912.
£248
8vo., 2 volumes in original brick red cloth with paper labels on spines. photogravure portrait frontispiece by emery Walker from a pencil sketch by c.r. leslie in volume 1. A fine set.
“the aim and purport of this edition is to provide the general reader with an authorative list of the poems and dramas hitherto published, and at the same time to furnish the student with an exhaustive summary of various readings derived from published and unpublished sources” (preface).
presentation set from the scottish politician, writer, journalist and adventurer robert cunninghame graham to his mother Anne elizabeth bontine with her bookplate in each volume. inscribed in volume one “A surprise packet for A [_] from r.b. cunninghame graham. oct 28 1916”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96