![[DRYDEN, John (1631-1700)]. Absalom and Achitophel. London: for J[acob] T[onson], and are to be sold by W[alter] Davis, 1681. [Bound with:] The Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel. London: Jacob Tonson, 1682.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/NYR/2001_NYR_09878_0039_000(033317).jpg?w=1)
Details
[DRYDEN, John (1631-1700)]. Absalom and Achitophel. London: for J[acob] T[onson], and are to be sold by W[alter] Davis, 1681. [Bound with:] The Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel. London: Jacob Tonson, 1682.
2 parts in one volume, 2o (306 x 186 mm). Part one with initial blank. Later wrappers, red speckled edges, rebacked; cloth box. Provenance: purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 14 April 1966. Exhibited: Grolier Club, "This powerfull rime," 1975, no. 30.
FIRST EDITIONS of both parts. Part one has the setting of the leaf signed C in first state, part two is in Macdonald's second state with "Fleet-Street" in the imprint and 12 lines on the last page. Written at the request of Charles II, it made use of Biblical allegory to describe contemporary politics. The Earl of Shaftesbury (Achitophel) had been arrested for treason and committed to the Tower in July, 1681, and part one appeared anonymously in November, coinciding with Shaftesbury's trial and acquittal before a grand jury. Its topicality led to an extrordinary sale, and a "fifth" edition was reached the year following. Part two, published in November, 1682, continues the history of the times down to the election of the Tory sheriffs that September. Whilst largely written by Nahum Tate (1652-1715), part two was revised by Dryden who added 200 lines containing the savagely satirical portraits of Og (Thomas Shadwell) and Doeg (Elkanah Settle). Macdonald 12a and 15a; Pforzheimer 310 and 311; Wing D-2212 and D-2350.
[With:]
[DRYDEN, John (1631-1700)]. Marriage-a-la-Mode: A comedy. London: T[homas] N[ewcombe] for Henry Herringman, 1673. 4o (203 x 160 mm). (Some light browning, paper fault at outer margin of title and B1, without final blank.) Early 20th-century brown half morocco gilt, top edge gilt. Provenance: William Andrews Clark, Jr. (1877-1934), noted Dryden collector (morocco label) -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 23 January 1969. FIRST EDITION. This romantic tragi-comedy, containing Dryden's "most licentious song," was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1672. Rochester amended the play before it was staged, and the dedication eulogizes him as the protector and patron of poets at Court. In 1679, however, he was to instigate a violent physical assault on Dryden, believing him responsible for insulting lines in the earl of Mulgrave's anonymous Essay on Satire. Ashley II, p. 74; Macdonald 77a; Pforzheimer 330; Wing D-2306. (2)
2 parts in one volume, 2o (306 x 186 mm). Part one with initial blank. Later wrappers, red speckled edges, rebacked; cloth box. Provenance: purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 14 April 1966. Exhibited: Grolier Club, "This powerfull rime," 1975, no. 30.
FIRST EDITIONS of both parts. Part one has the setting of the leaf signed C in first state, part two is in Macdonald's second state with "Fleet-Street" in the imprint and 12 lines on the last page. Written at the request of Charles II, it made use of Biblical allegory to describe contemporary politics. The Earl of Shaftesbury (Achitophel) had been arrested for treason and committed to the Tower in July, 1681, and part one appeared anonymously in November, coinciding with Shaftesbury's trial and acquittal before a grand jury. Its topicality led to an extrordinary sale, and a "fifth" edition was reached the year following. Part two, published in November, 1682, continues the history of the times down to the election of the Tory sheriffs that September. Whilst largely written by Nahum Tate (1652-1715), part two was revised by Dryden who added 200 lines containing the savagely satirical portraits of Og (Thomas Shadwell) and Doeg (Elkanah Settle). Macdonald 12a and 15a; Pforzheimer 310 and 311; Wing D-2212 and D-2350.
[With:]
[DRYDEN, John (1631-1700)]. Marriage-a-la-Mode: A comedy. London: T[homas] N[ewcombe] for Henry Herringman, 1673. 4o (203 x 160 mm). (Some light browning, paper fault at outer margin of title and B1, without final blank.) Early 20th-century brown half morocco gilt, top edge gilt. Provenance: William Andrews Clark, Jr. (1877-1934), noted Dryden collector (morocco label) -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 23 January 1969. FIRST EDITION. This romantic tragi-comedy, containing Dryden's "most licentious song," was produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1672. Rochester amended the play before it was staged, and the dedication eulogizes him as the protector and patron of poets at Court. In 1679, however, he was to instigate a violent physical assault on Dryden, believing him responsible for insulting lines in the earl of Mulgrave's anonymous Essay on Satire. Ashley II, p. 74; Macdonald 77a; Pforzheimer 330; Wing D-2306. (2)