£75
FIRST EDITION, 8vo, pp. 51, [1] + engraved title-page and 12 plates. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards. Some spotting to tissue-guards, one tissue-guard excised. Sometime rebacked, boards somewhat rubbed and worn, title-page partly sprung. Gift inscription to flyleaf dated 1803: ‘E. Walmsley to Thomas Robson;’ ownership initials P.M.R. dated 1893.
An odd bit of Cowperania, with the bulk of the text being an hagiographic sketch by Edward Wedlake Brayley (1773-1854), one of the editors of the Beauties of England and Wales series. The plates are by James Storer and James Grieg, the former of whom also worked on Brayley's 'Beauties' books. This book proved popular enough to be reprinted twice in its first decade, and was followed by similar works on other poets by the two engravers beginning with Burns in 1805.
