"THE POET'S POET": SPENSER'S WORKS, 1679 THIRD COLLECTED EDITION
SPENSER, Edmund. The Works of that Famous English Poet, Mr. Edmond Spenser. London: Henry Hills for Jonathan Edwin, 1679. Folio (8 by 13 inches), contemporary dark brown mottled calf rebacked in calf-gilt, red morocco spine label, raised bands.
Third folio edition of Spenser's collected works, complete with full-page frontispiece engraving of Spenser's tomb and title page printed in red and black, in contemporary calf boards.
"Spenser's influence on English poetic literature cannot be readily over-estimated… Charles Lamb bestowed on Spenser his just title when he described him as 'the poet's poet'" (DNB). Believed to have been edited in part by John Dryden, this third folio edition of Spenser's works includes The Shepherds' Calendar, "a turning point for Elizabethan poetry" (Baugh, 484), and The Fairy Queen, Spenser's epic, romantic allegory. Preceded by folio editions of 1611 and 1617-18. Gap in pagination between pages 258-369 (4K1-5A1), as issued, text complete. Carpenter, 111-12. Wing S4965. Lowndes, 2477. ESTC R7177. Bookplate; contemporary owner signature.
Text clean. Corners expertly restored. A very good copy in contemporary calf covers, beautifully restored.