Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English LiteratureKent, Henry Watson
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Bibliographic Notes on One Hundred Books Famous in English Literature
Kent, Henry Watson
Best books; English literature -- First editions -- Bibliography; English literature -- History and criticism
Collins and his friend Joseph Warton, the critic, both at the
time unknown, proposed to issue a volume of poems together:
"Collins met me in Surrey, at Guildford races, when I wrote
out for him my odes, and he likewise communicated some of his
to me; and being both in very high spirits, we took courage,
and resolved to join our forces, and to publish them
immediately." The plan, however, fell through and they finally
published separately, though almost simultaneously. This work,
though dated 1747, really appeared in December, 1746. Warton's
_Odes on various Subjects, London, 1746_, reached a second
edition, but Collins's book was not a success, and it is said
that, in disgust, he burned the larger part of the unsold
edition.
"Each," wrote Gray, "is the half of a considerable man, and
one the counterpart of the other. The first [i.e. Warton] has
but little invention, very poetical choice of expression, and
a good ear. The second [i.e. Collins] a fine fancy, modelled
upon the antique, a bad ear, great variety of words, and
images with no choice at all. They both deserve to last some
years, but will not." Time has set Collins right.
The vignette on the title-page, representing a pan-pipe and
harp surrounded by a wreath of fruit, laurel, oak, and palm,
with heads of Pan and Apollo at the top, is by Gerard (?) Van
der Gucht. Thin woodcut head-bands at the beginning of some
of the odes, and a tail-piece after the first one, furnish all
the ornament for this pathetic volume.
Octavo.
COLLATION: _2 ll., 52 pp._
SAMUEL RICHARDSON
(1689-1761)
47. Clarissa. | Or, The | History | Of A | Young Lady: | [Six lines]
Publiſhed by the Editor of Pamela. | Vol. I. | London: | Printed
for S. Richardſon: | And Sold by A. Millar, over-againſt
Catharine-ſtreet in the Strand: | J. and Ja. Rivington, in St.
Paul's Church-yard: | John Osborn, in Pater-noſter Row; | And by J.
Leake, at Bath. | M.DCC.XLVIII.
_Pamela_ was written at the suggestion of two booksellers,
Rivington and Osborne, who published it in four volumes
in 1741-42; and as it proved a great success its "Editor"
followed it with _Clarissa_. Only the last five volumes
appeared in 1748, the first two having come out the previous
year.
In connection with the mistaken idea, which has existed, that
there were eight volumes in the first edition, Mr. Dobson,
in his life of Richardson, gives us these quotations from the
author himself:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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