Details
GOLDSMITH, Oliver. The Deserted Village, a Poem. London: Printed for W. Griffin, 1770.
4o in half-sheets (263 x 210 mm). Half-title, title-page with engraved vignette by Isaac Taylor. (Signature letter removed and catchword supplied on B1, a few skilful marginal repairs not affecting text.) 19th-century calf gilt. Provenance: purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 1 February 1968. Exhibited: Grolier Club, 'This powerfull rime,' 1975, no. 39.
FIRST EDITION of Goldsmith's most famous poem, with catchword on p. 9 misprinted "Careless" for "Thus." The Deserted Village and Goldsmith's Traveller were "elegant versions of the popular declamation of the time against luxury and depopulation" (DNB). Samuel Johnson wrote the last four lines. The duodecimo editions dated the same year and previously believed to be "privately printed" or "trial" editions have since been shown to be Edinburgh piracies by W.B. Todd. Hayward 184; Scott Goldsmith, pp. 248-50; Rothschild 1032; Sterling 405; Tinker 1122; W.B. Todd in: Studies in Bibliography, 1954, pp. 25ff; Williams, p. 147.
4o in half-sheets (263 x 210 mm). Half-title, title-page with engraved vignette by Isaac Taylor. (Signature letter removed and catchword supplied on B1, a few skilful marginal repairs not affecting text.) 19th-century calf gilt. Provenance: purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 1 February 1968. Exhibited: Grolier Club, 'This powerfull rime,' 1975, no. 39.
FIRST EDITION of Goldsmith's most famous poem, with catchword on p. 9 misprinted "Careless" for "Thus." The Deserted Village and Goldsmith's Traveller were "elegant versions of the popular declamation of the time against luxury and depopulation" (DNB). Samuel Johnson wrote the last four lines. The duodecimo editions dated the same year and previously believed to be "privately printed" or "trial" editions have since been shown to be Edinburgh piracies by W.B. Todd. Hayward 184; Scott Goldsmith, pp. 248-50; Rothschild 1032; Sterling 405; Tinker 1122; W.B. Todd in: Studies in Bibliography, 1954, pp. 25ff; Williams, p. 147.