“THE POET’S POET”: SPENSER’S WORKS, 1679 THIRD COLLECTED FOLIO EDITION, HANDSOMELY BOUND

SPENSER, Edmund. The Works of that Famous English Poet, Mr. Edmond Spenser. London: Henry Hills for Jonathan Edwin, 1679. Tall quarto, contemporary full dark brown mottled calf skillfully rebacked and recornered with original elaborately gilt-decorated spine neatly laid down, raised bands. $5000.

Third folio edition of Spenser’s collected works, handsomely bound in contemporary calf-gilt.

"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. "Here, for the first time, are included Brittain's Ida, the View of Ireland and Bathurst's Latin version of the Shepheardes Calendar" (Pforzheimer). With full-page frontispiece engraving of Spenser's tomb and title page printed in red and black. Preceded by folio editions of 1611 and 1617-18. Pagination erratic, text complete. Carpenter, 111-12. Wing S4965. Lowndes, 2477. Pforzheimer 980. Early owner signature on title page, dated 1716; later pencil and ink owner signatures and bookplate. Back pastedown with old cataloging slips affixed.

Frontispiece engraving neatly trimmed along border and mounted; a few tiny ink marks to title page, with minor reinforcements to verso. Text overall clean with a handful of scattered small smudges. A very desirable copy in handsome contemporary calf-gilt.