Details
SIDNEY, Sir Philip (1554-1586). The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia. Edinburgh: Robert Waldegrave, 1599.
2° (261 x 170mm). Woodcut title ornaments, headbands and initials. (Variable light offsetting and occasional marking, some leaves trimmed touching headlines, signatures or catchwords, skilful repairs to title affecting text, marginal repairs to first 3 quires, occasional paper flaws, some worming.) Late 19th/early 20th-century red morocco gilt by Wallis, gilt-ruled borders on boards, gilt turn-ins, gilt edges. Provenance: 3A6v with contemporary transcriptions of the Epitaph on Argalus and Parthenia (Book III of 'Arcadia'; transcription annotated in a 19th-century hand referring to an article of 1864 in Notes and Queries) and 5 lines of the last stanza of the Tenth Song of 'Astrophel and Stella' -- a 17th-century transcription of 4 lines commencing 'What more mishap can fret the mind' from Robert Greene's Planetomachia (London: 1585) signed Ellinor Withers (signature scored through by a later hand) -- a 17th-century transcription of 4 lines of verse commencing 'I cannot where I would' signed Mary Detton -- Thomas Edward Watson (bookplate; by descent to the present owners).
Fourth edition. 'THE RAREST OF ALL THE EARLY ARCADIAS' (Juel-Jensen). Although the title-page states 'Now the third time published' Waldegrave's edition was a piracy, based on the true third edition published by William Ponsonby in 1598. The third edition was the first to collect Arcadia, Poems, The May Lady and The Defense of Poesie and Waldegrave's piracy is based on Ponsonby's 1593 and 1598 editions. Following Waldegrave's publication of this edition at 6 shillings, Ponsonby (whose 1598 edition was priced at 9 shillings), brought a lawsuit to block the piracy, and, as B. Juel-Jensen notes, 'Ponsonby seized the copies of the piracy that had not been sold, and this may explain why this edition is the rarest of all the early Arcadias' (op.cit., p.472). ESTC S1657; Bent Juel-Jensen 'Some Uncollected Authors XXXIV. Sir Philip Sidney, 1554-1586' in: The Book Collector, XI, no.4, pp.468-479; Lowndes p.2395.
2° (261 x 170mm). Woodcut title ornaments, headbands and initials. (Variable light offsetting and occasional marking, some leaves trimmed touching headlines, signatures or catchwords, skilful repairs to title affecting text, marginal repairs to first 3 quires, occasional paper flaws, some worming.) Late 19th/early 20th-century red morocco gilt by Wallis, gilt-ruled borders on boards, gilt turn-ins, gilt edges. Provenance: 3A6v with contemporary transcriptions of the Epitaph on Argalus and Parthenia (Book III of 'Arcadia'; transcription annotated in a 19th-century hand referring to an article of 1864 in Notes and Queries) and 5 lines of the last stanza of the Tenth Song of 'Astrophel and Stella' -- a 17th-century transcription of 4 lines commencing 'What more mishap can fret the mind' from Robert Greene's Planetomachia (London: 1585) signed Ellinor Withers (signature scored through by a later hand) -- a 17th-century transcription of 4 lines of verse commencing 'I cannot where I would' signed Mary Detton -- Thomas Edward Watson (bookplate; by descent to the present owners).
Fourth edition. 'THE RAREST OF ALL THE EARLY ARCADIAS' (Juel-Jensen). Although the title-page states 'Now the third time published' Waldegrave's edition was a piracy, based on the true third edition published by William Ponsonby in 1598. The third edition was the first to collect Arcadia, Poems, The May Lady and The Defense of Poesie and Waldegrave's piracy is based on Ponsonby's 1593 and 1598 editions. Following Waldegrave's publication of this edition at 6 shillings, Ponsonby (whose 1598 edition was priced at 9 shillings), brought a lawsuit to block the piracy, and, as B. Juel-Jensen notes, 'Ponsonby seized the copies of the piracy that had not been sold, and this may explain why this edition is the rarest of all the early Arcadias' (op.cit., p.472). ESTC S1657; Bent Juel-Jensen 'Some Uncollected Authors XXXIV. Sir Philip Sidney, 1554-1586' in: The Book Collector, XI, no.4, pp.468-479; Lowndes p.2395.
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