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LETTERS OF THE LATE ALEXANDER POPE, ESQ. TO A LADY.
(London: Printed [by William Bowyer and John Nichols] for J. Dodsley, 1769). 185 x 112 mm. (7 1/4 x 4 1/2"). vi, 7-87 pp. FIRST EDITION.
Pretty modern red morocco, gilt in period style, covers framed by decorative roll and gilt rules, central panel with large central fleuron formed of lancet and floral tools, lacy cornerpieces, raised bands, spine panels with gilt floral sprig, green morocco label, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers. Front flyleaf with charming ink presentation inscription from an uncle to a niece, dated 13 March 1772 (see below). Ashley IV, 62; Rothschild 1648; ESTC T5520. ◆First leaf and final leaf with just a hint of soil, but A FINE COPY, the text especially fresh and pleasing, and the unworn sympathetic binding extremely lustrous.
In a slim but very attractive binding, this is a collection of letters written by Pope to poet Judith Cowper (1702-81) between 1721 and 1723. Aunt to the poet William Cowper, Judith had been writing poetry since her early teens, and in response to Pope's 1717 poem "Eloise to Abelard," she had penned "Abelard to Eloise." Pope (1688-1744) was generally recognized as the greatest poet of his age, as well as a skilled satirist; in the preface here, the publisher notes that "these letters . . . discover the Writer's Heart to have had a more amiable sensibility, and to be tinctured with more goodness, than his other writings of this sort do." Pope encourages Cowper's writing, discusses poetic inspiration and method, and shares some of his own new poetry with her. Among those verses are "To a Lady on her Birthday," which is quoted in the charming presentation on the flyleaf, to "Miss F. Gibson from her Uncle Louis," dated 13 March [17]72. The final letter is dated 26 September 1723, about three months before Cowper wed Colonel Martin Madan; after her marriage, she apparently stopped writing. DNB notes, "much of Madan's most interesting work remains unpublished." (ST19922b)
Price: $650.00