Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$289.86 + shipping
Description: 8vo, pp. xlii, [iv], 224, 235-318, [1] errata; complete despite the error in pagination; rebound in modern boards, cloth spine, retaining old (early or mid-19th c) label. First and only edition of this translation of the Edda by Amos Simon Cottle, elder brother of the more famous Joseph Cottle, friend and publisher of Coleridge, Wordsworth and Southey. The translation was probably made from a Latin rendering, rather than the original, and was originally made in prose; on Southey's recommendation, Cottle then turned it into verse, but as poetry the work was not well received, and was harshly denigrated by William Herbert in his translation of 1804-6. Cottle died young in London, only three years later. This book is in fact probably most celebrated for the long prefatory poem, 'To A.S. Cottle, from Robert Southey', which is on pp. xxxi-xlii. Written in blank verse, it is an eloquent example of the new romantic poetry being championed by Southey's circle. More than this, it includes a notable tribute to Mary Wollstonecraft, which must have been written within a few weeks of her death: Cottle's preface is dated 1 November 1797, and Wollstonecraft had died on 10 September. Southey fifteen years her junior had admired Wollstonecraft from afar, and addressed her in a sonnet published in his Poems of early this same year. He certainly met her in May, when he and Edith came to dinner at Godwin's house, but they cannot have met on many other occasions, as he spent the summer of that year in the country, only returning after her death. In this poem he gives her the highest praise, as one Who among women left no equal mind When from this world she pass'd; and I could weep, To think that She is to the grave gone down!
Seller: Christopher Edwards ABA ILAB, Henley-on-Thames, OXON, United Kingdom
Price: US$450.89 + shipping
Description: 8vo, pp. [viii], xl, 276; with list of subscribers and errata leaf; complete with the original blank leaf d4 in the prelims; some gatherings a little browned, but otherwise a very good copy in mid-19th century red half roan over marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt (a bit rubbed but very sound). Inscription dated 1849 on endpapers. Published by Joseph Cottle in 1797, the year before Lyrical Ballads. This is in effect a brother venture to that famous book: Cottle was friends with both Fox and Coleridge, and after he had sold the copyright in both as part of a larger deal with Longmans of London, he found that they were both 'reckoned as nothing', and, having begged them back again, generously wrote off the twenty guineas he had given Fox as well as the thirty given to Wordsworth and Coleridge. Coleridge in fact also subscribed to this book: he is present in the short list of subscribers as 'Mr S.T. Coleridge, Stowey', as is 'Mr Robert Southey', and 'T. Beddoes, M.D.' (father of Thomas Lovell Beddoes). Wordsworth did not subscribe to the book, but he was presented with a copy by Cottle - Coleridge's letter of 8 June 1797 to Cottle sends his friend's acknowledgement and thanks for the gift. Charles Fox (1749-1809) was the son of a wealthy quaker grocer of Falmouth; after an adventurous early life travelling in the northern countries he settled in Bristol, where he kept a bookshop. He is mentioned in Southey's Espriella, and was known, even if only distantly, by the romantic poets who were living in the area in the 1790s.
Seller: Christopher Edwards ABA ILAB, Henley-on-Thames, OXON, United Kingdom
Price: US$1223.85 + shipping
Description: Small 8vo, pp. xx, 278; nicely rebound in full red morocco by Riviere, gilt spine, all edges gilt. First edition thus - printed originally in 1796 and here expanded with the added poems of Charles Lamb and Charles Lloyd. Coleridge's section is very considerably revised, as he states in his preface to this edition: 'one third of the former Volume I have omitted. I have pruned the double-epithets with no sparing hand, and used my best efforts to tame the swell and glitter both of thought and diction'. On the other hand, he added a quantity of new poems, which are highlighted in italics in the list of contents: they include the dedication to his brother George, the Ode on the Departing Year (pp. 5-16) and additional lines to the Monody on the Death of Chatterton. In effect, this is a new work by Coleridge, and for good measure it incorporates more new poetry by Lamb and Lloyd. Wise, Coleridge, 11; Tinker 679.
Seller: Christopher Edwards ABA ILAB, Henley-on-Thames, OXON, United Kingdom
Price: US$1739.16 + shipping
Description: Two works in one volume, small 8vo, pp. [iii]-xvi, 188, [2] errata and blank, [1] advertisements; [viii], 220; the first work without the half title, and the second without the final leaf of advertisements and blank leaf; good clean copies in contemporary tree calf, spine with morocco label (spine split down the middle, dividing the book virtually into two, between the two works). 19th or early 20th century inscription of R.P. Turner on endpaper. First editions of two important early books by Coleridge and Southey. Tinker 678 and 1951.
Seller: Christopher Edwards ABA ILAB, Henley-on-Thames, OXON, United Kingdom
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Description: Second edition, expanded. xx, 278 pp., lacking the rare errata slip. 12mo. After the favorable reception of the first edition of 1796, the publisher Cottle requested a second, to which Coleridge contributed several new pieces, including "The Ode to the Departing Year," and a new Preface in which he defended himself from charges of obscurity: "I have pruned the double-epithets with no sparing hand; and used my best efforts to tame the swell and glitter both of thought and diction" (Preface, p. xvii). This edition also includes twelve new poems by Charles Lamb - whose name appears on the title-page for the first time - and a number of poems by Coleridge's student Charles Lloyd. ESTC N11843; Haney 8; Tinker 679; Wise, Coleridge 11; Ashley I, p. 199; Thomson VI Blue crushed levant morocco, spine gilt, t.e.g, by Riviere. Mended tear on title touching one letter of imprint. Bookplate xx, 278 pp., lacking the rare errata slip. 12mo
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$2125.63 + shipping
Description: Handsomely bound in full brown crushed morocco by Rivière & Son, gilt spine, borders & dentelles. a.e.g. A v.g. attractive copy. ESTC N11843; Wise 11. Twelve of Coleridge's poems were published here for the first time. He advises in his Preface to the Second Edition, 'with respect to my share of the volume, I have a omitted a third of the former Edition, and added almost an equal number'. The newly presented poems are listed in the contents in italics.
Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$2250.00 + shipping
Description: Second edition, expanded. xx, 278 pp., lacking the rare errata slip. 1 vols. 12mo. IN BOARDS, UNCUT. After the favorable reception of the first edition of 1796, the publisher Cottle requested a second, to which Coleridge contributed several new pieces, including "The Ode to the Departing Year," and a new Preface in which he defended himself from charges of obscurity. This edition also includes twelve new poems by Charles Lamb - whose name appears on the title-page for the first time - and a number of poems by Charles Lloyd. Nice copy in boards, with a later Coleridge family connection. ESTC N11843; Haney 8; Tinker 679; Wise, Coleridge 11; Thomson VI. For binding, cf. Bennett p. 117, fig. 4.40. Provenance:Robert Porter, bookplate with blindstamp: Montpelier Cottage, Beeston, Notts; The Beeston Club (ink inscription on front pastedown: "This book is given by the Beeston Club to Mr. Dominick Daly in exchange for a modern and complete edition of Coleridge's Works . 1891"); Dominick Daly (inscription on front free endpaper, "To S.D. Coleridge, Esq. with compliments of D.D. 24/1/91"; William H. Painter (book label on front pastedown) Original grey boards, untrimmed. Finely rebacked to style (old wear and soiling to board edges). Red calf drop box with contrasting labels xx, 278 pp., lacking the rare errata slip. 1 vols. 12mo
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$5273.63 + shipping
Description: Two volumes, octavo, a fine set in polished speckled calf, spines ornately gilt in compartments with double labels, all edges gilt, by Bedford. A most attractive set in Bedford binding of the full first edition, as issued in two volumes over three years, of Southey's verse collection, his first book of poems published under his name alone, which includes his long poem "Botany Bay Eclogues" (pp. 75-104). Hayward notes that the first volume was suppressed after publication, and a second edition was printed later the same year. This fine set is an example of the true first edition, rarely found as here in a uniform set including the second volume in its first 1799 appearance. Borrowing from Southey's early radicalism, and infused with the ideas that would lead him to join Coleridge in advocating the utopian ideals of Pantisocracy, one of the often ignored aspects of the Botany Bay Eclogues is that they correctly privilege the new Australian society over life in England: they are 'made up of the reminiscences of ordinary people who have been transported to Australia as felons. Some of them remember England with nostalgia, but all have gone through experiences that make Botany Bay seem like a welcome haven' (Routledge History of English Poetry, p. 10). In fact Southey refused an opportunity to compare the reality with his lyric vision: in 1812, the year before his appointment as Poet Laureate, he seems to have considered a future as governor of New South Wales, but turned it down because 'Edith was not too keen on such a radical change of scenery' (Mark Storey, Robert Southey: A Life). It is fascinating to speculate as to what Governor Bob Southey might have done with the colony. See Robert W. Rix, The Poetics of Penal Transportation: Robert Southey's Botany-Bay Eclogues (Eighteenth-Century Studies, Volume 53, Number 3, Spring 2020, pp. 429-446). . Provenance: John Delaware Lewis (with leather armorial book label), presumably either the father (1774-1841, American merchant based in St Petersburg and finally settling again in England) or son (1828-1884, English writer and politician) of that name. Some very light wear to spine decorations; an excellent set in fine condition.
Seller: Hordern House Rare Books, Surry Hills, NSW, Australia