1737, ISBN: 6c0e67be0523d70a77f941a8024f0648

[SC: 4.62], [PU: London: printed by J. Wright for J. Knapton in Ludgate-street L. Gilliver in Fleetstreet J. Brindley in New Bond-street and R. Dodsley in Pall-mall], PROSE BSTOCK, 4to, p… Meer...

[SC: 4.62], [PU: London: printed by J. Wright for J. Knapton in Ludgate-street L. Gilliver in Fleetstreet J. Brindley in New Bond-street and R. Dodsley in Pall-mall], PROSE BSTOCK, 4to, pp. [xxxiv], [7]-222, 215-332; bound in contemporary mottled calf gilt, neatly rebacked, with original red morocco label preserved (reading 'Pope's Prose Works'). First edition: this is the quarto issue of the 'official' version of Pope's letters, sold only by subscription; as with his earlier collection, copies in folio were available for public sale. This remarkable volume marks the culmination of Pope's scheme to publish his own letters, a scheme which had begun more than two years earlier with a trick played upon Edmund Curll. The base text is that of 1735, but a number of letters have been added, and many of the others have been significantly polished; in addition there is a new preface, describing in a misleading way the evolution of the volume, and, for the first time, a complete table of contents. As is often the case with Pope's books, there is ample evidence of last-minute tinkering, although he appears not to have been unduly troubled by irregularities in pagination and the numbering of the letters, which is a bit erratic. At the end are six leaves containing four letters involving Swift, with the following introductory note: 'P.S. Since the foregoing Sheets were printed off, the following Letters having been published without the Consent of their Writers, we have added them, tho' not in the order of time'. However much this volume represents an authorised version of Pope's correspondence, the text was by no means final. Names of the nobility, for example, are printed here with dashes, but they were restored in later printings in a smaller format; over time, other alterations were rescinded as well. Pope saw this book as the first part of a larger project, and for this reason the half-title reads, 'The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, in Prose'; the appearance of a second volume, however, was delayed for a variety of reasons until 1741. With a vignette portrait of Pope on the title-page, after a design by Jonathan Richardson. When this volume was first issued, a glaring error was discovered in the very first letter, as here, written to William Wycherley from Binfield in Windsor Forest on December 26, 1724, 'the author's age then sixteen' – the date should have been 1704, when Pope was indeed 16. In some copies the relevant gathering has been reprinted. Griffith 454; Rothschild 1633. Provenance. Contemporary signature on the title page of John Milbanke, dated 1738; on the front pastedown is the 19th c armorial bookplate of Mark Milbank, engraved by Huntley of Bond Street. `<

1737, ISBN: 6c0e67be0523d70a77f941a8024f0648

[SC: 3.5], [PU: London: Printed by J. Wright for J. Knapton], ENGLISH LITERATURE, 4to (290 x 180 mm), [37], 10-196, 189-307, [1]pp., with half-title, vignette portrait of Pope by J. Richa… Meer...

[SC: 3.5], [PU: London: Printed by J. Wright for J. Knapton], ENGLISH LITERATURE, 4to (290 x 180 mm), [37], 10-196, 189-307, [1]pp., with half-title, vignette portrait of Pope by J. Richardson, a very good ex-library copy, cont. half, rubbed, joints split, cords showing.<

1737, ISBN: 6c0e67be0523d70a77f941a8024f0648

[SC: 3.5], [PU: London: Printed by J. Wright for J. Knapton], ENGLISH LITERATURE, 4to (290 x 180 mm), [37], 10-196, 189-307, [1]pp., with half-title, vignette portrait of Pope by J. Richa… Meer...

[SC: 3.5], [PU: London: Printed by J. Wright for J. Knapton], ENGLISH LITERATURE, 4to (290 x 180 mm), [37], 10-196, 189-307, [1]pp., with half-title, vignette portrait of Pope by J. Richardson, a very good ex-library copy, cont. half, rubbed, joints split, cords showing.<