The poem was left unpublished at the time of the author’s death and Francisco Garabito de León Messía saw to its publication.

•  Palau 347681; Medina, BHA, 1806; European Americana 687/140; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 376–77. Recased in old vellum. A very good copy.

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The present example is a fictitious imprint, printed in Amsterdam and counterfeiting the Parisian edition of the same year (actual place of printing from NUC Pre-1956 628:472, cf. E. Weller, Die falschen und fingierten Druckorte, II, 57). The volume’s two folding, engraved plates (unsigned) depict antiquarian coins and medals, while the mythologically inspired frontispiece includes a portrait of de Valois.

•  Later half sheep with speckled paper–covered boards, rebacked with speckled calf preserving original gilt-stamped leather title-label; sides and edges scuffed, with leather chipped at corners. Front pastedown with 19th-century private collector’s bookplate, partially chipped; preface with numeral inked in lower margin. Pages crisp and clean. All edges stained red.

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•  Goldsmiths’-Kress 7892.2; DeBacker-Sommervogel, VIII, 444. Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title-label; binding scuffed and rubbed, with leather cracking over joints and spine extremities chipped. All edges speckled red. Front free endpaper and fly-leaf partially affixed to front pastedown; front pastedown with inked initials. Pages beautifully clean.

•  Publisher's canvas over boards, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped leather labels. A fine copy.  (18007)

Provenance: First and last leaves stamped by the Lyceum Library of Hull (founded in 1807, and later dispersed in a famous sale).

•  NCBEL, II, 1591. On Walpole, see the Dictionary of National Biography. Contemporary half calf over marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title labels and gilt-stamped floral decorations in compartments. Board edges rubbed, with the spine gilt somewhat dimmed. All page edges marbled to match the boards. Elegant.

•  Blue publisher's cloth, spine with simple gilt-stamped rules and title, front cover with gilt-stamped "GTS" device (for the Golden Treasury Series). With an 1896 gift inscription on half-title. Pages gently age-toned. (5538)

•  One crease in the lower margin, below the bottom of the decorative border. (8269)

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•  Garrison B15. Publisher’s printed paper–covered boards, darkened, most notably over spine. Front free endpaper with pencilled owner’s name. Pages slightly age-toned.

•  Garrison A.19.1.f. Publisher’s cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold; lacking the very scarce dustjacket, with spine sunned, and cloth wrinkled over lower portion of back cover. Pages clean.

•  Garrison A28.I.a. Publisher’s green cloth, front cover stamped with a French country in white, red, and gold, spine with gilt-stamped title; original box lacking, cloth a bit rubbed over corners and spine extremities, with spine title dimmed. Front free endpaper with inked owner’s inscription dated 1919. Faint waterstaining to outer margins of pp. 21–35.

•  Garrison A45.1.a, binding A, jacket A. Publisher’s blue cloth, front cover and spine stamped in gold, in original printed paper dustwrapper with price; binding clean and unworn save for minor wear to spine extremities, dustjacket with cream portions slightly darkened and small edge nicks to front panel and spine.

The DNB, however, has a harsher verdict of White's poetic legacy: "White's verse shows every mark of immaturity. In thought and expression it lacks vigour and originality. A promise of weirdness in an early and prophetic lyric, ‘A Dance of Consumptives’ (from an unfinished ‘Eccentric Drama’), was not fulfilled in his later compositions. The metrical dexterity which is shown in the addition to Waller's ‘Go, lovely Rose,’ is not beyond a mediocre capacity. Such popularity as White's work has enjoyed is to be attributed to the pathetic brevity of his career and to the fervour of the evangelical piety which inspired the greater part of his verse and prose." Deservedly or not, White's reputation has receded over the years and he is now a relatively obscure poet.

This volume is illustrated with a frontispiece portrait of the author, engraved by Jas. Eddy from an illustration by Pendleton [William S. Pendleton?], and an engraved portrait on the half-title. Prefaced by a sympathetic "Account of the life of Henry Kirke White" on pp. [3]–44, by Robert Southey.

•  Publisher's brown cloth, spine lettered in gilt, both spine and covers stamped with an attractive gilt design. Cloth showing little wear at foot of spine. All page edges gilt. Faint ownership signature, dated 1849, pencilled on the front free endpaper. Yewllow slip of paper printed with eight lines of verse and pink slip with handwritten lines, pasted to front (blank) pages. Outer pages foxed; else, a few stray spots. Very good. In mylar cover. (6977)

•  Publisher's cloth. Text split from binding at several places.

•  ESTC T121646; NCBEL, II, 695. Removed from a nonce volume and now in a Mylar folder. One corner creased; first and last page lightly spotted, otherwise clean.

Provenance: Title-page upper margin with inked presentation inscription reading “Mrs. Miller with the Editor’s kind regards,” the editor being Thomas Worsley. Inked beneath the printer’s information are the words “not published,” also noted in another copy of this work. The front pastedown bears an inked inscription from Major and Mrs. F. Miller to Father Green, with a date in 1944 added in a different hand.

Binding: Signed contemporary binding: textured green cloth in imitation of morocco, front cover with decorative frame and title stamped in gilt; back pastedown with small binder’s ticket from Westleys & Co., London.

•  NSTC 2W32791. Binding as above, cloth a bit rubbed over corners and joints, with spine extremities pulled. All edges gilt. Front pastedown and title-page with inscriptions as above. Pages slightly age-toned, else clean, with errata slip present. Very nice.

Provenance: With laid-in invoice from the Davenant Bookshop in Oxford, dated 1924.

•  McKittrick/Rendall/Dreyfus 17. Publisher’s quarter brown buckram over tan paper- covered sides, spines with printed paper labels; gently worn, two labels chipped, one volume with cloth of a darker shade and noticeable rippling thereto. Two volumes with hinges slightly tender. Page edges untrimmed, some signatures uncut. It should be remarked that, by some unexpected trick of the camera, our righthand picture above makes this set look a bit smarter than it is; that said, though — it is rightly priced for its real condition and still worthy of purchase.