Item #205837 Poems,; Supposed to have been Written at Bristol, By Thomas Rowley, and Others, in the Fifteenth Century . . . to which are added a Preface, an Introductory Account of the Several Pieces, and a Glossary. Thomas Chatterton.

Poems,; Supposed to have been Written at Bristol, By Thomas Rowley, and Others, in the Fifteenth Century . . . to which are added a Preface, an Introductory Account of the Several Pieces, and a Glossary.

London: T. Payne, 1777. First Edition. 8vo, xxvii, [1], 307pp; engraved plate inserted facing p. 288; nineteenth century three-quarter crushed morocco gilt, t.e.g; custom slipcase. Old mend to an edge tear t o the margin of G4; bookplate (Thomas Pryce); early ownership signature on title page; scattered spots; a nice, clean copy. Item #205837

Second state, with the "Advertisement" leaf in front cancelled. Chatterton committed suicide before his eighteenth birthday, having published but one of these poems, ostensibly by the fifteenth century poet of his own invention. This edition, edited by the Chaucer scholar Thomas Tyrwhitt, asserted the poems' authenticity, but upon reconsideration -- and disputes from leading contemporary poets -- his second edition in 1778 acknowledged Chatterton's authorship. A handsome copy of a work that left a deep impression on the English Romantic poets. Hayward 188.

Price: $750.00

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