Details
JOHN DUNCOMBE
Surry Triumphant: or The Kentish-Mens Defeat. A new ballad; being a parody on Chevy-Chace. London: J. Johnson, 1773. 4to (271 x 214mm). Woodcut title vignette. (Title dust-soiled, slightly torn and chipped at margins, and tipped onto previous blank, horizontal creasemarks, verso of final leaf soiled.) Late 19th-century red roan, titled in gilt on upper cover (extremities rubbed, some scuff marks to rear cover). Provenance: Sir Walter Gilbey (visiting card).
WIDE-MARGINED COPY OF THIS RARE POEM ON A CELEBRATED MATCH. John Duncombe (1729-1786), curate of Sundridge in Kent, was a conscientious pastor with a reputation as an occasional poet. His 'Evening's Contemplation in a College' (1753) was a parody of Gray's 'Elegy in a Country Churchyard'. Twenty years later, he published his burlesque poem on cricket, using about half the words in the original Chevy-Chase ballad to describe a match held for the enormous wager of £2000. This was at Bishopsbourne Paddock, the seat of Sir Horatio Mann, in July 1773. Leaf A2 gives the scores of the two innings, showing 'Surry triumphant' by 153 runs. ESTC only identifies holdings at the BL and Trinity College, Cambridge. Two copies remain in the MCC library. NO OTHER EDITION WAS PUBLISHED. Allen 4; Padwick 2064.
Surry Triumphant: or The Kentish-Mens Defeat. A new ballad; being a parody on Chevy-Chace. London: J. Johnson, 1773. 4to (271 x 214mm). Woodcut title vignette. (Title dust-soiled, slightly torn and chipped at margins, and tipped onto previous blank, horizontal creasemarks, verso of final leaf soiled.) Late 19th-century red roan, titled in gilt on upper cover (extremities rubbed, some scuff marks to rear cover). Provenance: Sir Walter Gilbey (visiting card).
WIDE-MARGINED COPY OF THIS RARE POEM ON A CELEBRATED MATCH. John Duncombe (1729-1786), curate of Sundridge in Kent, was a conscientious pastor with a reputation as an occasional poet. His 'Evening's Contemplation in a College' (1753) was a parody of Gray's 'Elegy in a Country Churchyard'. Twenty years later, he published his burlesque poem on cricket, using about half the words in the original Chevy-Chase ballad to describe a match held for the enormous wager of £2000. This was at Bishopsbourne Paddock, the seat of Sir Horatio Mann, in July 1773. Leaf A2 gives the scores of the two innings, showing 'Surry triumphant' by 153 runs. ESTC only identifies holdings at the BL and Trinity College, Cambridge. Two copies remain in the MCC library. NO OTHER EDITION WAS PUBLISHED. Allen 4; Padwick 2064.