SAMUEL ROGERS' POEMS, BEAUTIFULLY BOUND, WITH A LOVELY FORE-EDGE PAINTING OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

ROGERS, Samuel. Poems. London: T. Cadell, 1822. Small octavo, contemporary full brown straight-grain morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, all edges gilt, fore-edge painted. $800.

"New Edition" of the collected verse of Rogers, with numerous wood-engraved vignette illustrations, in lovely contemporary straight-grain morocco-gilt and boasting a charming fore-edge painting of Canterbury Cathedral.

Rogers' "title to a place among the representatives of the most brilliant age… of English poetry cannot now be challenged" (DNB). First published 1814, his collected Poems was praised by one critic as "coming over us with a bewitching softness," and by another as "the most beautiful didactic poems in our language." This volume is beautifully bound and adorned with a lovely and vivid fore-edge painting depicting Canterbury Cathedral nestled amidst orange tiled houses, with cattle grazing or drinking from a pond in the foreground, the whole framed by bushy trees. While it is difficult to date the age of the painting with certainty, it is likely contemporary with the binding; regardless, it presents a well-executed, charming scene. Contemporary ink gift inscription, dated 1827.

Occasional foxing, one small spot to front cover. A fine copy, with bright gilt and a pleasing fore-edge painting.