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NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 a. XL JUNE 26, 1915.
FIRST EDITIONS AND AUTOGRAPHS,
Circa 1790 to circa 1830.
THE most imposing item among first editions in Jbhe Catalogues under our hand is Messrs. Maggs's complete set of the Waverley Novels in 74 volumes, bound by Riviere, for which they are asking 550Z. They have also the interesting first editions of Scott's translations of the Burger ballads and of ' Goetz.' Messrs. Dobell describe several of the later novels singly in the first edition, as well as a set of ' Tales of my Landlord ' (second, third, and fourth series) in 12 vols. (6Z. 6s. ). Mr. Barnard of Tunbridge Wells has a good letter of Scott's, dated 23 April [1822], to Lady Huntly, the best part of which is a sketch of
- Halidon Hill,' a piece designed for a collection
Joanna Baillie was then getting together for publication (16Z.).
Byron is represented here by ' Don Juan,' in 7 vols. (one 4to, containing the first edition of Cantos I. and II., and six8vo, in which those two cantos are repeated), offered by Messrs. Maggs for 15Z. 15s. ; by Messrs. Sawyer's copy of ' Hours of Idleness,' offered for 9Z. ; and by a few smaller examples in the Catalogue of Mr. Poynder of Reading, the best of which is an ' English Bards and Scotch Reviewers ' (12s. Qd.).
There are two noteworthy Keats items Messrs. Sotheran's first edition of ' Lamia,' &c., which costs only 21Z. in consideration of its lacking four pages of advertisement at the end, and Messrs. Maggs's ' Endymion,' in the original boards with the label (60Z.).
Messrs. Sawyer's first editions of Shelley are particularly attractive : a first issue of the first edition of ' The Revolt of Islam ' (26Z.) ; a ' Cenci,' Taound by Wood (37Z. 10s.); a finely bound copy of the ' Posthumous Poems ' (15Z.) ; and a ' Prometheus Unbound,' in an elaborate binding ~by Sangorski & Sutcliffe (22Z. 10s.). Messrs. Maggs have a copy of the " Queen Mab. London : printed by P. B. Shelley, 1813," bound by Riviere, the cost of which is 160Z. We noticed in the Catalogue of Messrs. Simmons & Waters of Leamington a copy of this production of the poet's as pirated by the printer Carlile, 1823 (1Z. 15s.), and another in the original boards of the edition brought out by Brooks, 1829 (like- wise 1Z. 15s.).
We noted also the following : Campbell's ' Poetical W T orks 'illustrated by 20 plates of Turner's work, and having inserted in it a letter by the author to Prof. Napier (Messrs. Young of Liverpool, 6?. 6s.) ; Lamb's ' Tales from Shake- spear ' with the 20 copperplates engraved by William Blake from Mulready (Messrs. Sawyer, 38Z. 10s.) ; another copy in the original calf (Messrs. Maggs, 35Z.) ; and De Quincey's ' Opium- Eater ' (Messrs. Maggs, 13Z. 13s.). All these things are delightful enough, but we confess that none of them made our mouth water so much as Messrs. Sawyer's item No. 50 a set of first editions of Jane Austen's novels, sixteen 12mo volumes, clean and tall copies, not, however, in the original covers, but bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, and to be had for 70Z. Falling more or less within our period as to date, though belonging in reality to the next, are the four 12mo volumes, described by Messrs. Young and offered for 18Z., containing Tennyson's first work ' Poems,
chiefly Lyrical,' 1830 ; * Poems,' 1833 ; and the
two volumes of ' Poems,' 1842.
Want of space forbids our mentioning many other good books, but we must find room for three or four first editions of other than strictly literary interest. Thus Messrs. Young have a copy of Walpole's ' Anecdotes of Painting ' (5 vols., 21Z.) ; Messrs. Maggs have a White's 'Selborne ' (16Z. 16s.), another copy of which is offered by Messrs. Sawyer for 10Z. 7s. Qd. ; and it seems useful to note that Messrs. Maggs have Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall ' (6 vols. ), for which they ask 6Z. 6s.
The autographs we have seen this month are comparatively few. Mr. Barnard has a letter of Hood's to his publisher from Islington [1825], 2Z. ; a good letter of Bishop Percy's to Edward Malone (2Z. 2s.) ; and two letters, each with an autograph copy of a poem, of John Clare's (1824, 1Z. 10s. ; 1837, 1Z. 16s.). Messrs. Sawyer have an interesting Clare item in 3 vols. i.e., ' The Village Minstrel,' 2 vols., 1821 ; and ' Poems descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery,' 1820, of which the first contains a long autograph letter of the author's (6Z. 7s. Qd.). We further noticed in Messrs. Sawyer's Catalogue a MS. of Miss Mitford's ' Alice : a Dramatic Scene,' apparently an early attempt (6Z. 10s.) ; and an original MS., score and words all in the author's own hand- writing of Thomas Moore's song ' There is a Bleak Desert.' One or two items of considerable though secondary interest have been bound up with this, and the price of the whole is 12Z.
Our next article will deal with works on French History and Literature. If desired, particulars of items not yet included in a Catalogue may be sent for perusal ; and back numbers of Catalogues describing items which fall under the above heading may also be forwarded.
FROM IS Iniermediaire. Response : Le comte Axel von Schwering. Son journal et ses conver- sations avec 1'empereur Guillaume II. (Ixxi. 370). J'ai dans ma bibliotheque le ' Gothaisches genealogisch.es Taschenbuch der graflichen ' et aussi ' der freiherrlichen Hauser.' Le nom de Schwering ne se trouve ni dans Fun ni dans 1'autre. Cela m'a confirme dans 1'impression que m'avait laisse'e la lecture du soi-disant journal : nous sommes en presence d'un pur roman. A. P. L.
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