The Iliad, The Odyssey, Miscellany Poems, The Works. 22 Vols

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Alexander Pope,

The Iliad, The Odyssey, Miscellany Poems, The Works. 22 Vols

London: Printed for Henry Lintot and others. 1732 -1745

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$1,950.00

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A Wonderful Complete Early 22 Volume set of Alexander Pope’s principal works, in near fine contemporary binding, including his 11 Volume set of The Iliad and The Odyssey, his 2 volume Miscellany Poems and his 9 volume Works of Alexander Pope. With 57 plates and maps as called for. Published at the end of the Author’s lifetime and incorporating a newly revised version of The Dunciad, here in its first small 8vo appearance.

The volume(s) measure about 17.5 cm. by 10 & 11.5 cm. by 1.5 - 2 cm.

Each leaf measures about 170 mm. by 95 & 110 mm.

The 22 Volume Alexander Pope Collection

Homer. 11 Volumes in 12mo

The Iliad of Homer. Translated by Alexander Pope, Esq; London: Printed for Henry Lintot. MDCCXLIII (1743). In six volumes. 30 plates (3 folding) and 1 folding map as called for.

Vol One;               (34), 1 – 63 (1), 1 – 256. Contains 7 plates (1 folding) and 1 folding map.

Vol Two;               1 – 18, (2), 1 – 248. Contains 6 plates (1 folding battle birds eye view)

Vol Three;           1 – 224, Contains 4 plates.

Vol Four;              1 – 276, Contains 4 plates.

Vol Five;               (6), 1 – 246, Contains 6 plates (including 1 folding Shield of Achilles)

Vol Six;                 1 – 192, (56). Contains 3 plates.

This was Lintot’s fourth publication of the Iliad in 12mo. In this edition of the Iliad, the plates have been newly engraved, with sharp detailed impressions.

The Odyssey of Homer, Translated by Alexander Pope, Esq; London: Printed for Henry Lintot. MDCCXLV (1745). In 5 Volumes. 24 plates, half titles as called for.

Vol One;               (4), I – xxxII, 1 – 225, (3). Contains 4 plates and 3 pages of ads

Vol Two;               (4), 1 – 256, (4). Contains 5 plates and 4 pages of ads

Vol Three;           (4), 1-304, (4). Contains 5 plates and 4 pages of ads

Vol Four;              1- 260. Contains 5 plates

Vol Five;               1 – 267, (15), 1 – 22. Contains 5 plates, index, Battle of the Frogs and Mice at the end.

This was Lintot’s second edition in 12mo.

Mr. Pope’s Miscellany. 2 Volumes in 12mo.

Miscellany Poems; The Sixth Edition. London: Printed for Bernard Lintot; and sold by Henry Lintot, at the Cross-Keys against St. Dunstan’s-Church in fleetstreet. MDCCXXXII (1732). In 2 volumes with portrait of Pope as called for

Vol One;               By Mr. Pope. (2) 1 – 232. Half title, portrait.

Vol Two;               By Several Hands (2) 1 – 283, (7). Contains advertisement on the reverse of the half title and an index at the end.

Works of Alexander Pope. 9 Volumes in small 8vo 1742 – 1745

From his early essays and the Dunciad, to his Homer and Shakespeare, Alexander Pope was active and involved in the publication of his own works. Pope was constantly providing corrections to the text and changes to layout directly to the printer, resulting in a complex publication history. Pope made his living by his pen alone, leading to his vested interest in the publication process, including working on publication changes such as we find in this set. In this Octavo edition of Pope, in nine volumes, we see this “state of correction” by Pope in play.

Vol One: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol I Part I. London: Printed for Henry Lintot. MDCCXLIII (1743). Title in black only. (1) – 16; (xvii) – xxxix; (xl, blank), (17) – 198; (2) blank at end as called for. With portrait of Pope. Note there was no corresponding Part I Vol II published in 1743.

Vol Two: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol I Part II. Consisting of Fables, Translations and Imitations. London: Printed for H. Lintot, and J and R Tonson, and S Draper. 1745. Title in black only. (1) – 207, (208 book list).

Vol Three: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol II Part I. Containing his EPISTLES, &c. London: Printed for R. Dodsley, and sold by T. Cooper in Pater-noster-Row, MDCCXLIII. (1743). Title in black and red. (8), (1) – 62, (6), 65 – 180, (181, N.B. an editorial note), (3). Contains the blank as called for.

Vol Four: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol II Part II. Containing Imitations of Horace and Dr. Donne. London: Printed for R. Dodsley, and sold by T. Cooper in Pater-noster-Row, MDCCXLIII. (1743). Title in black and red. (8), (9) – 199, (1).

Vol Five: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol III Part I. Containing the Dunciad. Now first published according to the Complete Copy found in the year MDCCXLI (1741). London: Printed for R. Dodsley, and sold by T. Cooper. MDCCXLIII. (1743). Title in Black and Red. (4), (i) -lxxxvii;(lxxxviii, Errata); (1) – 163, (1), (3), 78 – 102, (3), 104 – 112, (113, By Authority), (1). Scarce Variant A

Note from Griffith entry 585: This is the Dunciad, Books I – III, with leaves from Vol III Part II mis-bound in it. This variant differs from variant B only in that it contains additional matter (Appendix) at the end. It owes its existence to the binder’s misunderstanding his directions. The additional matter is the Appendix of Vol III Part II of the “Works” of 1742.

Vol Six: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol III Part II. Containing the Dunciad, Book IV. And The Memoirs of Scriblerus. Never before printed. London: Printed for R. Dodsley, and sold by T. Cooper. MDCCXLII. (1742) but 1743. According to Griffith The Dunciad proceeds Scriblerus. In our copy Scriblerus is bound first as follows. Title in black and red.  (2 Title) (i) – x, 11 – 132, (2), 1 – 74. Variant C but without the Appendix found in our copy of Vol III Part I.

There were three variants of Vol III Part II as recorded by Griffith, two published in 1742 (A & B) and one in 1743 (C) but still dated 1742. This was due to changes by Pope in The Dunciad often while the press was running.  The 1743 publication of the Dunciad in quarto, with Cibber enthroned king of the dunces instead of Theobald was the event of the year for Pope. Before the 4to was printed he undertook to edit Vol III Part II, Variant C.

Griffith 579. “For this edition Pope revised and lengthened the text of the Dunciad, Book IV, as compared with the 8to Vol III Part II, Editions A and B of 1742.” This book is made up of remainder sheets of the B edition of 1742 (including the 1742 title page), but with new printed leaves inserted in the place of canceled leaves. These are easy to detect with the new leaves having vertical chain lines vs horizontal chain lines in the main text. Our copy conforms to variant C with the newly inserted leaves.

According to Griffith “the new-printed leaves (inserts) of this book must have been printed, I think, at about the time the 1743 quarto Dunciad was at press. Presumably this botched-up volume and the Works, Vol III, Part I of 1743 (our copy Variant A) were intended to be placed on sale as an Octavo Edition immediately after the publication of the quarto Dunciad of 1743. Yet the text of this Octavo varies slightly from the Quarto text in such fashion as to make it look like a sort of trial version, ante-dating in time of composition the text of the quarto.”

Our copy paginates to Variant C but without the Appendix, which is found in our copy of Volume III Part I. It is easy to surmise that some copies of Variant C were printed to match Variant A of Volume III Part I of 1743 as they were printed around the same time in November of 1743.

Volume Seven: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol IV Part I. Containing An Authentic Edition of his letters. London: Printed for T. Cooper in Pater-noster-Row. MDCCXLII. (1742). (2), i-ii, 28, (1) -240.

Volume Eight: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol IV Part II. Containing the Second Part of his Letters. London: Printed for T. Cooper in Pater-noster-Row. MDCCXLII. (1742). [xvi], [1]-151, [1], 145-236. Variant

For Volume IV Part II, in Griffith and ESTC, the pagination is: [xvi], [1]- 236. In our Octavo edition of Vol IV Part II, four of Pope’s correspondence with Swift Have been included resulting in a different pagination, a state that seems to have been corrected in the three versions recorded by Griffith. The letters in question appear again in volume nine, indicating changes part way through the printing process.

Volume Nine: The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq; Vol IV Part III. Containing the Third Part of his Letters. London: Printed for T. Cooper in Pater-noster-Row. MDCCXLII. (1742). (16), (1) – 232. Issue A

The ornament on the titlepage is a wide-brimmed, thick stemmed vase of flowers, with scroll work on each side. Title in red and black. The chain lines run horizontally.

Condition

The Volumes are in Near Fine Condition Bound uniformly in contemporary gilt-ruled English calf, with the spines divided into six gilt-stamped compartments by five gilt & raised bands, and with a flower and thistle decoration to each panel with red morocco letter-pieces in the second compartment and black letter pieces for the volume numbers below. With the board edges marbled. Externally the boards and spine are lightly scuffed overall, with a few minor splits and chipping to the heads or tails of the spines, and with some slight bumping to the board corners, with almost all gilding retained. Internally the leaves are generally clean and amply margined, and with some mild foxing on occasion, with little else in the way of stains or tears except for Volume II of Pope’s Miscellany with a small corner torn out of the title page affecting some letters.

Iliad, Odyssey, Miscellany: Each volume measures about 17.5 cm. By 10 cm. By 1.5-2.5 cm. Each leaf measures about 168 mm. by 95 mm.

Works of Alexander Pope: Each volume measures about 17.5 cm. By 11.5 cm. By 1.5-2 cm. Each leaf measures about 170 mm. by 110 mm.

Dating the Binding

Alexander Pope passed away in 1744. There was a huge interest in his works at that time, leading up to his death. Given the dates on the Homer sets and The Works, the set was probably assembled after 1745 but before 1750 when the next printing by Lintot of the Iliad in 12mo was produced. Lintot was advertising the Sixth Edition of the 1732 Miscellany as late as 1745, so it makes sense that this was included when the set was assembled. The binding style and decorations are typical to the mid to later 18th Century. (see David Pearson, English Bookbinding Styles, Oak Knoll Press 2005)

 

 

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