[Rarebooks] fa: JOHN LOGAN - POEMS by the REV. MR. LOGAN of LEITH 1781

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, March 5. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/z3hq52g

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

John Logan: Poems, by the Rev. Mr. Logan, one of the Ministers of Leith. London: Printed for T. Cadell In The Strand, MDCCLXXXI [1781]. FIRST EDITION; slim 8vo (22.5 cm), untrimmed in original publisher's boards; vii, [1], 118 pp.; with the half-title page. ESTC T125580.

Original boards rather rubbed and soiled; chipping to the spine ends, joints cracked but secure; leaves with toning to the edges, occasional spotting and modest soiling, light damp-stain at the top of the gutter, but generally quite clean, firmly bound. Early/original owner's ink markings to upper board and front free-endpaper.

Includes the celebrated poem, "Ode to the Cuckoo," which Edmund Burke described as the most beautiful lyric in the English language. John Logan (1748-1788) was a Scottish divine known for his distinguished intellect and rhetorical brilliance, but who also suffered from debilitating melancholia and an overreliance on the bottle. Adam Smith was a great admirer and described Logan as "a Clergyman of uncommon learning, taste, and ingenuity, but who cannot easily submit to the puritanical spirit of this country." Superannuated by his congregation after the birth of an illegitimate child, Logan retired to London and died there at the early age of 40. The volume also includes some of his hymns and paraphrases of scripture.