The Child Set in the Midst.

£125 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

A compilation of poems for children, most notable for the first appearance in print of Francis Thompson, whom Wilfrid and Alice Meynell had saved from deprivation and obscurity after he had submitted some poems to their Merrie England magazine. The introduction here by Meynell eulogises Thompson: 'One of our younger Poets, Mr. Francis Thompson, who has eluded Fame as long as Shelley did, but cannot elude it longer, passes from the place of preparation to the place of fruition, and gives the clue to his own eternal whereabouts: Look for me in the Nurseries of Heaven! To most readers the poems of Mr. Francis Thompson given in this collection will come as the revelation of a new personality in Poetry, the last discovered of the Immortals.' First edition; 8vo; 2pp. facsimile of the ms. 'The Toys' by Coventry Patmore as frontispiece, title vignette, further decorations; publisher's near-black cloth with yapp fore-edges, gilt decoration to one corner, printed spine label (browned), a little bumped rubbed, top edge gilt, partly uncut.

• Binding: Hardcover

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