Recollections of the Table Talk of Samuel Rogers to which is added, Porsoniana; Edited by Alexander Dyce
New Southgate: John Bale and Sons for H.A. Rogers, 1887. Extra Illustrated Limited Edition. 2 volumes, 8vo, 9 7/8 x 5 1/2 inches (225 x 140mm) Half-titles, titles printed in red and black. SIGNED by the AUTHOR on the limitation page "Five copies were (only) printed | on this hand-made paper for | sale. S. A. Rogers, 1887." EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with 150 engraved, etched and lithographic 18th- and 19th-century portraits and views by various artists after Thomas Gainsborough, Thomas Lawrence, Joshua Reynolds, George Romney and others, 10-page MANUSCRIPT INDEX of illustrations bound in at the end of volume II. Where captions are not included in the plate, they are neatly hand-written on the page margin in ink. Contemporary straight-grained tan morocco gilt by Fazakerley of Liverpool, the covers with gilt floral designs, the stems and leaves outlined in gilt, the flowers depicted with dark brown morocco inlays, the border of 4 gilt fillets with stepped corners enclosed within an outer single gilt fillet, the spines gilt in 6 compartments divided by raised bands, titled in gilt in 2 and dated at the foot, the other compartments decorated with fleurons surrounded by foliate cornerpieces, turn-ins ruled in gilt, top edges gilt, others trimmed; extremities lightly rubbed, unobtrusive small marks on spines; occasional light foxing and offsetting.
Provenance: F.E. Dinshaw (armorial bookplates and pressmark labels); William Robinson (bookplates bound in after front free endpapers), and W.A. Foyle | Beeleigh Abbey library bookplate in red morocco pasted into front cover, in both volumes.
AN EXTRAVAGANTLY EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED COPY OF TABLE-TALK, FINELY-BOUND BY FAZAKERLEY AND LIMITED TO FIVE COPIES, inscribed on the verso of volume I half-title: 'five copies were (only) printed on this hand-made paper for sale H.A. Rogers. 1887'. The 145 portraits depict a broad range of the poet Samuel Rogers' contemporaries, friends and literary influences, and include Lord Byron, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Sydney Smith, Jonathan Swift, Horace Walpole, and William Wordsworth. 'Porsonia' is composed of recollections of the classical scholar Richard Porson, remembered for his learning, his ability 'to sit up drinking all night without seeming to feel any bad effects from it' and possessing 'more bad copies of good books than any private gentleman in England' (pp.319 and 329).
Condition: Near fine.
Item number: 1315
Price: $3,750.00
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