DRYDEN, JOHN, AND JACOB TONSON, editors.. The First [-Sixth] Part of Miscellany Poems. Publish d by Mr. Dryden.. London: Printed for J. Tonson in the Strand, 1727., 1727.

Price: US$275.00 + shipping

Description: Six vols., 12mo. Engraved frontispiece in each volume. Occasional browning. Contemporary sprinkled and gilt-ruled calf, ruled in blind and gilt; some joints partly cracked, several labels missing, but a sound set. Engraved bookplate of Thomas Gaisford in the first and third volumes, bookplates removed from the remainder. "Fifth Edition," reprinting the text of the 1716 fourth edition which was revised and greatly expanded by Jacob Tonson. Tonson the elder bought Henry Herringman s copyrights around 1708, and he was certainly the editor for this 1716 selection, published a few years after his effective retirement from publishing and handing the day-to-day running of the business over to his nephew. Among the authors chosen for the additions are John Donne, with no fewer than thirteen poems, Milton ("L'Allegro"), Davenant, Corbet, Carew, and others. Macdonald, Bibliography of Dryden, 49; Case, English Poetical Miscellanies, 172(1)(f)-(6)(b).

Seller: Stuart Bennett Rare Books, ABAA/ILAB, Charleston, SC, U.S.A.