1784 - POETICAL WORKS OF SAMUEL BUTLER - BELL'S 2ND EDITION - 3 VOLS - LEATHER

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1784 - POETICAL WORKS OF SAMUEL BUTLER - BELL'S 2ND EDITION - 3 VOLS - LEATHER The Poetical Works of Samuel Butler ---------------- Samuel Butler ---------------- John Bell (Apollo Press), Edinburgh (Poets of Great Britain), (1784), Second Edition --------------- Description: "In Three Volumes with the Life of the Author", full green leather bindings, gilt designs to the spine, red title labels with gilt lettering, marbled end pages, illustrated frontispieces. General Remarks: this is a three volume set of Butler’s "Works" in the Bell's Edition of the "Poets of Great Britain". Bells "Poets" were produced over a number of years during the latter decades of the eighteenth century, and when eventually complete consisted of 109 volumes in total, made up of range of individual sets and books. These may not be the original bindings because they show an overall volume number from the full set of 109, which are offered for sale as separate lots because the total only represents a portion of the overall collection. This particular set is not recorded in the Integrated Catalogue of the British Library, and I have not located a complete set elsewhere on the Internet in this edition. According to an Internet source, "John Bell (1745–1831) was an English publisher. The Dictionary of National Biography has Charles Knight calling Bell a "mischievous spirit, the very Puck (Shakespeare) of booksellers." His 109-volume, literature-for-the-masses Poets of Great Britain Complete from Chaucer to Churchill, which rivalled Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1781), was published from 1777 to 1783. Each volume cost just six shillings, at a time when similar volumes usually cost multiple times that. The drawings and illustrations with which Bell adorned his publications influenced later publishers, as did his abandonment of the long s. Most notable, perhaps, was Bell's joint-stock organization of his publishing company, which defied "the trade" – forty dominant publishing companies – in order to establish a monopoly on the best publications. In addition to the immense Poets of Great Britain, Bell also published similar volumes on Shakespeare and The British Theatre, as well as the Sunday newspaper Bell's Weekly Messenger, women's magazine La Belle Assemblée, and other periodicals. He died in Fulham in 1831." According to the same Internet source, "Samuel Butler (1612 – 1680) was a poet and satirist. Born in Strensham, Worcestershire and baptised 14 February 1613, he is remembered now chiefly for a long satirical burlesque poem on Puritanism entitled Hudibras." Size/Weight: Unpackaged Weight: combined weight 440g (approx 15½oz). Size: 24mo (each volume 13.25 x 8.75 cm (approx 5¼ x 3½ inches)). Condition: Externally: rubbed and bumped (especially the spine), most title labels absent or damaged, splitting to the spines (one board just held), damage to the spines, some scuffing to the leather, leather coming away from the boards, otherwise remaining bound. Internally: slight age browning and foxing, otherwise generally clean and tight throughout. Overall Condition: externally generally poor to fair, internally generally good to very good. General Book(s) Condition Descriptions: Fine As new, without any faults or other defects. Near Fine There are one or two minor defects, but the general condition of the book appears as new. Very Good Showing some signs of wear through use, but complete and overall in very good condition. Good Average condition, showing signs of wear and tear through normal use, but the book is complete. Fair The book contents are generally complete, and there may be above average wear and tear. Poor Often referred to as a reading copy, but has significant wear and tear, and some contents may be missing. Note, please read the... read more

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