SPENSER, Edmund.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Poetical Works. First Aikin edition, in a very attractive contemporary binding, and with pleasing engravings by James Heath (1757-1834), "one of the leading line engravers of his time" (ODNB). The illustrations are after Thomas Stothard; in "making this artist his especial study, [Heath] gained a great reputation, and by is talent and tasteful execution gave a great impulse to book illustration" (Redgrave, p. 199).The text is a revision of that used by Samuel Johnson in his Works of the English Poets (1799-81). The editor, John Aikin (1747-1822), was a surgeon and literary biographer who found in London "a warm welcome, and became a minor literary success. His circle of friends included Thomas Pennant, the naturalist; Erasmus Darwin; James Montgomery; John Howard, the philanthropist; and, for a time, Robert Southey" (ODNB).

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