THE HOSPITAL FOR WIT: 18TH-CENTURY SIX-VOLUME MISCELLANY

[WILLIAMS, Charles Hanbury, editorial attribution]. The Newfoundling Hospital for Wit. Being a Collection of Fugitive Pieces, in Prose and Verse, Not in Any Other Collection. With Several Pieces Never Before Published. London: J. Debrett, 1784. Six volumes. 12mo, contemporary full calf, rebacked, gilt- and blind-tooled spine, gilt-stamped centerpieces. $700.

Englarged and corrected 1784 edition of this collection of poems, odes, satires, epigrams, elegies, and other miscellaneous writings.

First published in 1768 (as a sequel to The Foundling Hospital for Wit, 1743-48), this collection includes works and excerpts from Dante, Pope, Walpole, Lyttleton, Congreve, and numerous others. Williams contributed heavily to the six numbers of first series, as well as to four of the six-volume sequel. “Williams’ political squibs are some of the most lively and vigorous in our language” (Allibone, 2735). Lowndes, 826 (attributed to John Almon).

A fine set of this amusing early compilation.