Poetical Works of William Cowper

London: William Pickering, 1830. FORE-EDGE PAINTING. From] "The Aldine Edition of the British Poets." London: William Pickering, 1830-1831.

First edition of the three volumes of The Poetical Works of William Cowper, taken from "The Aldine Edition of the British Poets." Three small octavo volumes (6 5/16 x 4 inches; 160 x 100). xcvi, 264; vi, [2, ads], 307, [1, imprint]; xii, 386 pp. Volume one with general title from The Aldine Edition and each volume with a separate volume title. Volume one with frontispiece portrait. Each volume with a brightly colored, intricately detailed fore-edge painting. The three scenes are similar showing city centers and streets, filled with people and horse carriages.

Uniformly bound in contemporary full diced maroon morocco. Boards ruled in blind, with gilt central devices. Spines stamped and lettered in gilt. Gilt dentelles. All edges gilt. Previous ownership inscriptions dated 1839 to the front free endpapers of each volume. Some minor rubbing to hinges. Overall a beautiful set. Housed together in a half morocco slipcase.

Pickering's "well-printed three-volume edition [originally] published as volumes VII, VIII, and IV of Pickering's Aldine Edition of the British Poets" in 1830-1831; This original Pickering edition "contained the most complete text of the poems which had yet appeared. Southey used it as a basis, praising its arrangement and the anonymous Memoir of Cowper by the Rev. John Mitford" (Russell, p. 109). Also "excellently printed on good paper by the younger Whittingham"; each volume contains at the end of the text the imprint "Printed by C. Whittingham, Tooks Court." (Russell, p. 109).

HBS 69084.

$1,500.