21 “Foremost Among Writers In The English Language”: 1687 Edition Of Chaucer’s Works, The Last In Gothic Type 18 CHAUCER, Geoffrey. The Works of Our Ancient, Learned, & Excellent English Poet, Jeffrey Chaucer. London, 1687. Folio, 18th-century full paneled calf rebacked. $8500 Third Speght edition of Chaucer’s works—chief among them his incomparable Canterbury Tales—the last edition to be set in Gothic type, with engraved frontispiece “Progeny of Chaucer,” incorporating a full-length portrait of the author and an image of his tomb. “Chaucer’s characters live age after age. Every age is a Canterbury Pilgrimage; we all pass on, each sustaining one of these characters; nor can a child be born who is not one of these characters of Chaucer” (William Blake). This is the third printing of Thomas Speght’s edition, which “held sway for well over a hundred years, far longer than any other. It was the text read and owned by Milton, Junius, Pepys, Dryden and Pope” (Derek Pearsall). It is essentially a reprint of Speght’s 1602 edition, being the eighth collected edition, and includes for the first time the printing of the conclusions to the Cook’s and the Squire’s Tale, then recently discovered. After this edition, the quality of Chaucerian editorship declined, not to be revived until the 1775 Tyrwhitt edition of The Canterbury Tales. Light foxing, chiefly marginal; minor wormtraces to inner margin of last few signatures only, not touching letterpress. A few minor marginal tears, not touching letterpress: [2B4], 2Y2, 3C2, [4K3]; two leaves, 4M2-3, a little ragged along outer and lower edges, early boards expertly restored. A very good copy. “One Of The World’s Literary Masterpieces” 19 CONRAD, Joseph. Lord Jim, A Tale. Edinburgh and London, 1900. Octavo, original green cloth, custom slipcase. $7000 First edition, first issue, of Conrad’s brilliant exploration of morality and the torment of guilt, “second only to Heart of Darkness in renown”—the Doheny copy, with her morocco bookplate. To critic Cedric Watts, Conrad’s Lord Jim is “one of the world’s literary masterpieces… Conrad, like Britannia, rules the waves… a book of the rare literary quality of Lord Jim is something to receive with gratitude and joy” (New York Times Book Review). “Second only to Heart of Darkness in renown” (Joseph Conrad Companion), Lord Jim is “the first full-length work of Conrad’s artistic maturity… the novel is, moreover, deeply personal, with roots in Conrad’s past… [and] has retained its place as one of Conrad’s most widely enjoyed and studied books. It has remained so for the brilliance of its technical innovations as well” (Cambridge Companion). First edition, with all first issue points. Cagle A5.a. From the celebrated collection of Estelle Doheny, with her morocco-gilt bookplate. “One of the earliest female book collectors in the United States, Estelle Doheny, purchased her first rare book in 1931 and continued buying books and manuscripts until her death in 1958. She is the only woman collector who developed a library notable for both its scope and quality” (DePaul University). Mild foxing to fore-edge and first few and last few leaves; light rubbing to joints, binding sound, cloth clean, gilt bright. A near-fine copy, with excellent provenance.
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