Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
GOLDSMITH, [Oliver]. The Deserted Village, A Poem. By Dr. Goldsmith. W. Griffin, London, 1770.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: vii, 23 p. 23 cm. Vignette on title page. Grey paper covers. Front cover detached, chipped spine tail, a few small tears, some spots.
Seller: Attic Books (ABAC, ILAB), London, ON, Canada
Goldsmith, Oliver:. The Deserted Village A Poem.. W Griffin Fifth Edition, 1770.
Price: US$83.38 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1770, 5th edition. Quarto, viii, engraved title page, 24pp. Bound in recent marbled paper wrappers with a mounted facsimile title label to front cover. A very good copy complete with the half title.
Seller: Kerr & Sons Booksellers ABA, Cartmel, CMA, United Kingdom
Price: US$109.03 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: vii, [i], 23, [1] pages. ESTC T146768. Vignette to the title page. Disbound. Pages measure approximately 26 x 20.5cm. Some creasing to pages. Light browning and soiling mainly to page edges. A few spots. Where the number of page 23 should be, there is a small hole. Soiling at the start and finish.
Seller: Stephen Rench, Shipston on Stour, United Kingdom
GOLDSMITH, Oliver.. The Deserted Village, A Poem.. Printed for W. Griffin, London, 1770.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: vii, 23 pp. Engraved vignette on title page: "The sad historian of the pensive plain." 4to, later cloth-backed boards. The Third Edition. Expert old repairs to short tears; half title lightly soiled; otherwise very attractive.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Goldsmith, [Oliver]. The Deserted Village, ; A Poem. W. Griffin, London, 1770.
Price: US$150.00 + shipping
Description: 4to, [viii], 23pp; later calf; a.e.g. Bound with half-title. The second edition corrects the catchword "Thus" at the bottom of p. 9. Internally a clean and appealing, readable copy of Goldsmith's greatest poem, with a distinguished provenance. Foxed, especially at endsheets; repairs to the first signature, likely from the time of binding, with a mend at the upper margin of [A1] and to both inner margins; leather bookplates of Richard Montgomery Gilchrist Potter on both pastedowns, with resultant offsetting; covers rubbed and detached.
Seller: Locus Solus Rare Books (ABAA, ILAB), Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$475.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Small quarto, three quarter sheep and brown boards lettered in gilt; spine rubbed with slight edge-wear; modest foxing to preliminary pages; contents immaculate. Third edition, with engraved title-page vignette by Isaac Taylor, captioned: "The Sad Historian on the Pensive Plain." A handsome copy of Goldsmith's masterpiece.
Seller: North Star Rare Books & Manuscripts, Sheffield, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$962.07 + shipping
Description: The third edition, in an attractive contemporary binding, of The Deserted Village, Goldsmith's poetic attack on the transformation of the countryside into vast landscaped landed estates: "the man of wealth and pride/takes up a space that many poor supplied,/space for his lake, his park's extended bounds, space for his horses, equipage, and hounds His seat, where solitary sports are seen,/indignant spurns the cottage from the green". In condemning the enclosure of land, Goldsmith also implicitly criticized those, such as Capability Brown, who turned these estates into spectacular parks. The Deserted Village is considered one of the great English poems of the 18th century. Also bound here are six other poems, including examples of the biting poetic satires of Charles Churchill and William Coombes. Bound third, with: i) CHURCHILL, Charles. The Ghost. London: printed for the author, 1763. Third edition, with additions. ii) CHURCHILL, CHARLES. The Duellist. A Poem in Three Books. London: printed for G. Kearsly, 1764. Second edition. iii) COOMBE, William. The Diaboliad, A Poem. Dedicated to the Worst Man in His Majesty's Dominions. A New Edition, with Large Additions. London: printed for G. Kearsly, [1677, i.e 1777]. Later edition, published the same year as the first. iv) COOMBE, William. The Diaboliad, A Poem. Part the Second. By the Author of Part the First. Dedicated to the Worst Woman in His Majesty's Dominions. London: printed for J. Bew, 1778. First edition. v) COOMBE, William. The First of April: or, the Triumphs of Folly: A Poem. Dedicated to a Celebrated Duchess. London: printed for J. Bew, 1778. First edition, one of two states without known priority. vi) COOMBE, William. The Justification: A Poem. By the Author of the Diaboliad. London: Printed for the author, 1777. First edition. ESTC numbers: T74515; T35002; T146044; T31775; T112377; N411; T2683. 7 works bound in 1 volume, quarto (262 x 203 mm). Contemporary tan half calf, red morocco label lettered in gilt to spine, marbled paper sides, vellum tips. Contemporary ownership signatures on front pastedown and to most poems, slightly cropped at times, a few pencil and ink annotations to both Diaboliad parts, two poems with names of borrowers and dates of return in pen on the title page, a contemporary drawing of a face on final page of The Duelist. Tiny chip to head of spine, covers slightly abraded, some light soiling and browning to contents, some marks, occasional foxing, some pages lightly creased, a few small nicks and tears not affecting text, tiny chips to pp. 11 and 23 of The Deserted Village affecting pagination, pp. 33-4 of The Diaboliad part one repositioned after p. 12. A very good collection.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Price: US$1399.00 + shipping
Description: First Issue (with erroneous catchword "Careless" for "Thus" on p. 9) of one of the most influential poems of the eighteenth century, condemning the enclosure of land into vast landscaped estates. 4to: vii,[1]-23[1]pp, with half-title (bulked at end with 22 blank leaves). Title page with engraved vignette by Isaac Taylor, "The Sad Historian on the Pensive Plain." With the half title stating, "Price 2s." Dedicated to Sir Joshua Reynolds, president of the Royal Academy. Beautifully bound in full red recent morocco, spine with four raised bands ruled in gilt, black morocco lettering piece gilt, end papers and blanks (including 22 leaves at end to add bulk) renewed. Very minor light scratches to boards, else the handsome binding is tight and square. Half title soiled and toned, with tiny closed tear to center, very occasional faint spotting, final leaf with old neat patch repair to verso and tiny hole obliterating page number, else contents clean and bright. Rothschild 1032. Hayward 184 (for one of the duodecimos once thought to be privately printed trial issues, but which Todd ["The private issues of The deserted village," Studies in Bibliography, 6:25-44 1954] has now identified as unauthorized later printings). Sterling 405 (Exhibition in the Yale University Library of the Works of Oliver Goldsmith in Connection with the Bicentenary of His Birth). Tinker 1122. Courtney (Johnson), p. 113 ("The last four lines in Goldsmith's Deserted Village were by Johnson."). Temple Scott, pp. 238-252 (A "poem without which we should be poor indeed. . . . Such a demand for a poem [citing four authorized edition published within the first 30 days of first publication] passed all anticipations; it was never heard of in those days."). In 1768, Goldsmith moved to a cottage at Edgeware, then out into the countryside far from London. He worked on The Deserted Village for about two years before its publication, but had been collecting materials on country visits for some years before that. "It was his most researched, most careful and most openly didactic poem." (Literary Encyclopedia) It was finally published in May, 1770, as a quarto pamphlet, with five more quarto editions following that same year. Nearly all first reviews were favorable. "Despite widespread resistance to its mourning the disruptive effects of enclosure [laws], The Deserted Village none the less gave fresh expression to the traditional form of elegy. Early readers admired the nostalgic descriptions of a vanished village life, with its vivid portraits of the preacher, the blacksmith, the schoolmaster, and the widow." (ODNB) It may not be the greatest of the English elegies, "but in its successful adjustment of serious Tory thought with gracious charm and in its successful redefinition of the pastoral elegy in terms of contemporary experience, Goldsmith's excellent and indispensable poetry may be said to deserve our admiration as well as our affection." (Miner, "The Making of The Deserted Village,' Huntington Library Quarterly Vol. 22, No. 2, p.141). "The scale of rural depopulation gave rise to grave debates in Parliament, . . . but concern for the rural poor was rarely expressed by the literary class. Goldsmith's poem stands as a rare exception." (Literary Encyclopedia) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed.
Seller: Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1875.00 + shipping
Description: 4to, pp. vii, [1], 23; dedicated to Joshua Reynolds, this is the last of the quarto editions published in 1770, the year of first publication; bound with: The deserted village, a poemÉ, London, for Griffin, 1770, pp. [iii]-vii, [1], 23, lacking the half-title; bound with: The deserted village, a poem É The sixth edition, London, Griffin, 1770, pp. vii, [1], 23; bound with: The deserted village É The seventh edition, London, Griffin, 1772, pp. [iii]-vii, [1], 23; bound with: The traveller, a poem. By Oliver Goldsmith, M.B., London: for T. Carnan and F. Newberry junr., 1770, pp. [2], iv, 23; bound with: another copy of the same; bound with: The travellerÉ, London: T. Carnan, 1786, pp. [iii]-viii31, [1] ads; all 4to, sizes vary; each with an engraved vignette title-p.; recent artless quarter brown calf, marbled boards; red morocco label.
Seller: Rulon-Miller Books (ABAA / ILAB), St. Paul, MN, U.S.A.
GOLDSMITH, Oliver. Deserted Village, a Poem. W. Griffin, London, 1770.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, first issue (with the incorrect 'Careless' as the catch-word on p. 9, rather than 'Thus'). Quarto (10 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches; 258 x 207 mm). vii, [1, blank], 23, [1, blank] pp. Complete with half-title. Engraved vignette on title page by Isaac Taylor, captioned "The Sad Historian on the Pensive Plain.". Bound by Riviere & Son in full polished calf. Boards triple-ruled in gilt with small flower corner devices. Spine with two red morocco spine labels, lettered and stamped in gilt. Gilt board edges and gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. Leaf C2 with some foxing and a small burn hole, not affecting text. Overall a near fine copy of the classic of English verse. Housed in a quarter cloth clamshell. "The Deserted Village, pastoral elegy by Oliver Goldsmith, published in 1770. Considered to be one of his major poems, it idealizes a rural way of life that was being destroyed by the displacement of agrarian villagers, the greed of landlords, and economic and political change." (Brittanica) Rothschild 1032. HBS 68775. $2,000.
Seller: Heritage Book Shop, ABAA, Beverly Hills, CA, U.S.A.
[Goldsmith, Oliver. The Deserted Village, A Poem. Printed for W. Griffin, London, 1770.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, p. 9 "careless" Title page with engraved vignette. [viii], 24pp. 1 vols. 4to. The quarto edition is now believed to be the true first edition, preceding the several unauthorized duodecimo printings, demonstrated to have been later piracies by William B. Todd (v. Rothschild 1032 'Notes') and Studies in Bibliography, vi, 1953). Rothschild 1032; Iolo Williams, p. 147; Hayward 185 (2) Full brown morocco, a.e.g. by Sangorski & Sutcliffe Title page with engraved vignette. [viii], 24pp. 1 vols. 4to
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Goldsmith, Oliver. The Deserted Village, A Poem. Printed for W. Griffin, London, 1770.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Title page with engraved vignette. [viii], 24pp. 1 vols. 4to. The quarto edition is now believed to be the true first, preceding the several unauthorized duodecimo printings, demonstrated to have been later piracies by William B. Todd (v. Rothschild 1032 'Notes' and Studies in Bibliography, vi, 1953). Rothschild 1032; Iolo Williams, p. 147; Hayward 185 (2) Full brown morocco gilt by Rivière. Half-title with neat repairs, small stains, other expert paper restoration throughout; overall a very handsome copy, in a quarter morocco slipcase with chemise Title page with engraved vignette. [viii], 24pp. 1 vols. 4to
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.