[Rarebooks] FS: First Edition in English of the Legend of William Tell, 1809
Charles Agvent
chagvent at ptd.net
Thu Dec 26 12:32:12 EST 2013
[FLORIAN, Chevalier De]. WILLIAM TELL; OR, SWISSERLAND DELIVERED.
London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, 1809. First English Edition.
Duodecimo (3-7/8" x 6-1/4") bound in modern quarter calf leather over
marbled boards, five raised bands and gilt rules to spine, gilt
lettering, marbled endpapers; xxxvi, 115, {5 advertisements] pages.
First published in Paris by Didot in 1802, this is the first edition of
the first English translation from the French by William B. Hewetson.
Includes a Life of the Author by Jauffret. Complete with half-title
page, frontispiece engraved by Mackenzie after Thomson, and 5 pages of
ads at the end. Some foxing to the frontispiece with slight offsetting
to the title page; contents quite clean and bright. Binding tight and
firm. About Fine and quite scarce.
According to medieval legend William Tell from Burglen was known as an
expert marksman with the crossbow. In the early 1300s, the Habsburg
emperors were seeking to dominate Uri. Hermann Gessler, the newly
appointed Austrian Vogt of Altdorf, raised a pole in the village's
central square with his hat on top and demanded that all the local
townsfolk bow before it. As Tell passed by without bowing, he was
arrested. He received the punishment of being forced to shoot an apple
off the head of his son, Walter, or else both would be executed. Tell
had been promised freedom if he shot the apple. Tell split the fruit
with a single bolt from his crossbow, without mishap. When Gessler
queried him about the purpose of the second bolt in his quiver, Tell
answered that if he had ended up killing his son in that trial, he would
have turned the crossbow on Gessler himself. Gessler became enraged at
that comment and had Tell bound and brought to his ship to be taken to
his castle at Küssnacht. In a storm on Lake Lucerne, Tell managed to
escape. On land, he went to Küssnacht, and when Gessler arrived, Tell
shot him with the crossbow. This defiance of the Austrian, Gessler,
sparked a rebellion, leading to the formation of the Swiss
Confederation. (#017292) $750.00
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