[Rarebooks] fa: 1722 THOMAS PARNELL - ALEXANDER POPE - POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, Feb. 12. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/6v45sq8

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

Poems on Several Occasions. Written by Dr. Thomas Parnell, Late Arch-Deacon of Clogher: and Published by Mr. Pope. London: Printed for B. Lintot, at the Cross-Keys, between the Temple Gates in Fleet-Street, 1722 [but 1721]. FIRST EDITION. Early diced calf, rebacked preserving the original spine; 8vo (19 cm); [8] + 221 + [3]pp.; with index, errata, publisher's adverts; title-page printed in red and black. ESTC T42652; Griffith 130; Foxon, p.554.

First edition, containing the first appearance of Pope's 4-page dedicatory poem. Lacking leaf C3 (containing one "song" in its entirety, not affecting any extant text). Some wear to the edges of the boards and spine ends; mild toning to the leaves, a few leaves with light damp-stain to bottom fore-corners; otherwise clean and sound, firmly bound. An uncommon title.

The poet and clergyman Thomas Parnell (1679-1718) was a member of the "Scriblerus Club" along with Pope, Jonathan Swift, John Gay and John Arbuthnot. "The shortest lived of the group, Parnell was Swift's protégé and, like him, a former whig. Having come to England from Ireland after the death of his wife, he contributed enthusiastically to Scriblerian collaborations, working particularly closely with Pope… Parnell returned to Ireland after the queen's death, but, having visited London in 1718, died suddenly on his way home, and was commemorated by Pope in the dedicatory ‘Epistle to Robert Earl of Oxford, and Earl Mortimer’ prefixed to his selective memorial edition of Parnell's work, Poems on Several Occasions" (ODNB). Parnell was also a regular contributor to The Spectator, and his "Night-Piece on Death," first published here, is widely considered the first "Graveyard School" poem.