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COLLINS, William (1721-1759). Odes on Several Descriptive and Allegoric Subjects. London: A. Millar, 1747.
8o (201 x 122mm). Title-page with engraved vignette by G. Van der Gucht (a wreath of oak, laurel and palm leaves enclosing a lyre and pan pipe). Half red morocco and marbled paper boards, spine gilt-lettered and with small monogram, top edge gilt, by Pratt. Provenance: Britwell Court Library (shelf-marks and monogram on spine) sold Sotheby's, London, 29 March 1971, lot 102 -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 24 August 1972. Exhibited: Grolier Club, 'This powerfull rime,' 1975, no. 38.
FIRST EDITION, actually published at one shilling in December 1746, of one of the most significant collections of verse published in the 18th century. The son of a hatter, Collins had published his Persian eclogues in 1742 while still an undergraduate at Oxford. This, his second book, was issued in an edition of 1000 copies in December 1746, but sold so poorly that its author, after coming into a modest inheritance, reportedly bought up the remaining unsold copies and had them destroyed within the year. Foxon, p.132; Grolier/English 46; Hayward 170; Rothschild 657; Williams p. 110. A FINE, CRISP COPY.
8o (201 x 122mm). Title-page with engraved vignette by G. Van der Gucht (a wreath of oak, laurel and palm leaves enclosing a lyre and pan pipe). Half red morocco and marbled paper boards, spine gilt-lettered and with small monogram, top edge gilt, by Pratt. Provenance: Britwell Court Library (shelf-marks and monogram on spine) sold Sotheby's, London, 29 March 1971, lot 102 -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 24 August 1972. Exhibited: Grolier Club, 'This powerfull rime,' 1975, no. 38.
FIRST EDITION, actually published at one shilling in December 1746, of one of the most significant collections of verse published in the 18th century. The son of a hatter, Collins had published his Persian eclogues in 1742 while still an undergraduate at Oxford. This, his second book, was issued in an edition of 1000 copies in December 1746, but sold so poorly that its author, after coming into a modest inheritance, reportedly bought up the remaining unsold copies and had them destroyed within the year. Foxon, p.132; Grolier/English 46; Hayward 170; Rothschild 657; Williams p. 110. A FINE, CRISP COPY.