BEAUTIFULLY BOUND SET OF WORDSWORTH'S POETICAL WORKS, WITH A THREE-PAGE SIGNED AUTOGRAPH LETTER: "THERE IS SO MUCH COMING AND GOING OF STRANGERS AMONG US"
WORDSWORTH, William. The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1910. Ten volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter green morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt, uncut and partly unopened.
Limited edition, number 173 of only 500 sets, illustrated with photogravures and hand-colored frontispieces, with a three-page autograph letter signed by Wordsworth.
The letter, dated October 24, 1845 to a Mr. Parry, responding to his request for help, reads in part: "I received your letter when I was upon the point of setting off from my Brother-in-Law's house… and I now sit down, not to thank you for it, or to express the deep sympathy which I feel in your sorrow… I have no knowledge of such a person as Rupert Trott [?] or of a place named Dale-Head… But this is no way remarkable. There is so much coming and going of strangers among us and the names of places are so frequently and fantastically altered. I have however written to the Clerk… begging him to make inquiries and to send me the result without delay, which I will immediately transmit to you and I hope in time… I remain, my dear Mr. Parry, with my high respects, faithfully yours, Wm. Wordsworth.'' "Mr. Parry" is possibly Charles Henry Parry, a physician and author who accompanied Coleridge on his tour of the Harz Mountains and was also a friend of Southey.
Spines uniformly toned to brown. A fine set.