Poetry

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 1393
BARLOW, Joel.

BARLOW, Joel. ~ The vision of Columbus: A poem in nine books.

London: C. Dilly and J. Stockdale, "Hartford N.E. printed London re-printed,"  1787.
First London edition and first edition respectively. Barlow's ambitious philosophical poem, dedicated to the king of France and sponsored by George Washington, received great acclaim on publication and he was proclaimed a genius both by his peers and the public at large. As the imprint here notes, it was first printed in Barlow's native America (also in 1787).Five pieces of runic poetry represents the first translation of any Icelandic-Eddic literature into English and is among the earliest of Percy's many translations of ancient and exotic poetry. His greatest later success was the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765).   view more...
£625.00
US$1215.43*
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 1121
CARY, Henry Francis, the Reverend.

CARY, Henry Francis, the Reverend. ~ The early French poets, a series of notices and translations... with an introductory sketch of the history of French poetry by his son the Rev. Henry Cary...

London: Henry G. Bohn,  1846.
First edition in book form, publisher's presentation copy of this important posthumous collection. Acquainted with both Coleridge and Lamb, Cary was one of the circle of Romantic authors cultivated by the publishers Taylor and Hessey. He is best remembered as the translator of Dante. He collected much of his material on the medieval French poets on a visit to France in 1821, and published several articles on that subject in the London Magazine. It is these that were republished posthumously in the present form with an introduction by the author's son.    view more...
£120.00
US$233.36*
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 1375
MERBITZ, Joannes Valentinus.

MERBITZ, Joannes Valentinus.  ~ De Varietate Faciei Humanae, Discursus physicus appendicis loco accedunt carmina figurata Rabani Mauri.

Dresden: Widow and Heirs of Melchior Bergen for Martin Gabriel Hubner,  1676.
First edition. "Merbitz's book takes features of the human face and describes them by mathematical and alphabetical schemes, constructs cipher systems, and reproduces figured poems by the medieval encyclopedist Hrabanus Maurus (780-856)." Norman, Cyberspace. [Norman notes that Charles Babbage owned a copy, see Norman Cat 28 (1994) 431.] Hrabanus Maurus, the Benedictine archbishop of Mainz was a celebrated encyclopaedist, but his most remarkable legacy is his series of 28 figured poems De laudibus sanctae crucis, a collection of twenty-eight encrypted religious poems, composed before 814 AD. Using a 36 by 36 grid he composed sacred poems (each line in Latin contains precisely 36 letters) which incorporated simple spiritual images formed from contrasting coloured letters (red, in our versions) within the grid, each making brief, succinct verses in their own right. The intention was that the grid provided both texts and images for contemplation, prayer and visual memorization. Merbitz includes 8 of Maurus' "concrete prayers."   view more...
£1200.00
US$2333.64*
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 1104
[GRANT, Anne.]

[GRANT, Anne.] ~ Essays on the superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland: to which are added, translations from the Gaelic; and letters connected with those formerly published. In two volumes...

London: [J. Hay & Co. Edinburgh] for Longman, Hurst [and others] and John Anderson in Edinburgh,  1811.
First edition. Essays on the superstitions of the Highlanders found favour among readers with a taste for the poetry of Burns and Scot, as well as among Romantics who looked to the Scottish Highlands for evidence of a society uncorrupted by the vices of modern society. Anne Grant was born in Glasgow, but spent her childhood in America and is best known for her 'Memoirs of an American Lady' (1808).   view more...
£220.00
US$427.83*
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* Given as a guide only. Based on an exchange rate of £1 = US$1.944696 for the day 16 May 2008 but liable to fluctuate.

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16 May 2008