Authors starting with P from Stuart Bennett Rare Books

Paris: Constant Le Tellier Fils, 1826. [iv], 167pp., 18mo. Engraved frontispiece, with the half-title. Contemporary tree sheep; rebacked with most of the original spine and a clumsy new gilt label. First edition in French, rare, and an appropriate title for a French translation as the story concerns the young victim of a French shipwreck and her friendship with the daughter of a Norfolk curate. Lucy Peacock was one of the more successful writers of children's fiction of the period; she was also th... more information

London: Published by Dean & Munday, 1828. 140, [4]pp., 18mo. Engraved frontispiece, with a publishers’ catalogue at end. Original blind-embossed cloth, spine gilt with title and price “2s”; upper joint partly split, but sound. First edition, by an otherwise-unknown author, but presenting an interesting puzzle of attribution. A.K. Newman, who often co-published with Dean & Munday, also issued this title in the same year with the statement “Prepared for the Press by Mrs. Hof... more information

London: Printed for G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1822. [iii]-xii, 126, 6pp., 18mo. Engraved frontispiece (included in the pagination), with a publisher’s catalogue at end; some minor staining, especially to the frontispiece. Original green roan-backed marbled boards; worn but sound. Engraved label on front pastedown “Sold at the Juvenile Library, 43 Low. Sackville Strt., Dublin.” First and only edition, a collection of original poems for children by an Irish actor. They include some unabash... more information

London, Printed: And sold by J. Walter, Charing-Cross, and J. Willis at Newbury, 1775. 22pp., 4to. Contemporary manuscript correction to a word at p. 9. A nice large copy in modern marbled boards, morocco spine label. First edition. Penrose was more than a country curate, having begun his career as a naval adventurer in South America. A wound forced him to retire to Oxford; he later took holy orders and died young in 1779. The first poem in this collection, “The Helmets,” is a “Progn... more information

London: Printed for R. Griffiths, at the Dunciad, in St. Paul’s Church-Yard; W. Meyer, May’s Buildings, St. Martin’s-Lane; J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1751 . xxiv, 259, [5]pp., 12mo. With the two terminal leaves of publisher’s advertisements; paper flaw at pp. 121-122 resulting in a short tear into text with no loss, title leaf just a little dusty, but a very nice copy in contemporary gilt-ruled calf; expertly rebacked and gilt by Philip Dusel. Contemporary engraved bookplate of Meyler... more information

Paris: Chez Prault, pere, 1748. [viii], 205, [3]pp., 8vo. Engraved frontispiece, title vignette, and headpiece by Le Bas, with prose explanations, title printed in red and black. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt; lower compartment of spine chipped, joints split but firm. First edition of these La Fontaine-esque fables in verse, with the influence of that author acknowledged by the presence of his portrait bust in the allegorical frontispiece.... more information

London: Printed for J. and R. Tonson and S. Draper, 1748. [viii], 147pp., 12mo. An attractive copy in contemporary, probably original, blue patterned paste boards, vellum tips, handsomely rebacked by Bernard Middleton in calf with a gilt label. First collected edition, dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle, and the last collection overseen by the author who died the following year. He outlived most of his contemporaries, including Pope, with whom the pastorals in this volume had caused so much trouble in... more information

London: On Sale by William Pickering Chancery Lane, 1834. [iv], 401, [3]pp., sm. 8vo. Hand-colored frontispiece “Fac-simile of an Antient MS Fragment of the Bible,” with the half-title and a two-page catalogue at end of “Works Published under the direction of the Trustees of the British Museum, sold by William Pickering.” Nice copy in the original green cloth; rebacked with the original spine and (darkened and slightly torn) paper spine label. A mouth-watering catalogue. The eighth... more information

Cambridge: Printed by F. Hodson and sold by F.C. and J. Rivington, 1811. xxxi, [i], 468pp., 12mo. Contemporary sprinkled calf; spine darkened and upper joint split, but holding. First edition, uncommon, essentially a poetical miscellany interspersed with some perceptive critical comments. Robert Southey and Joseph Cottle are included, and there is an original poem by Plumptre titled “The Negro’s Exultation.” COPAC records only copies at Cambridge, Nottingham and Oxford; OCLC adds about ... more information

London: Printed for Cadell and Davies, 1797. [iv], vii, [i], 146, [2]pp., 8vo. With the half-title and terminal leaf of advertisements. A fine fresh copy in late nineteenth-century half brown morocco. First edition, about “a character now almost extinct in this island. . . the hero of expiring chivalry.” Polwhele explains that he discovered a couple of the breed still alive in Cornwall and attempted a poetical description of their households and the details of their daily lives. The bookse... more information

London: Sold by W. Owen, 1771. 2 vols. in one, sm. 8vo. With the half-titles. Nice copy in contemporary sheep; expertly rebacked with a gilt spine. First edition in English of these elegant letters by the beautiful and accomplished mistress of Louis XV, who died in 1764, and who was publicly and quite unjustly blamed for the Seven Years War that ended the preceding year. The first letter in this collection sets the tone, pitying her friend the Duke of Mirepoix upon his posting to England, “doome... more information

Paris: Chez Briasson Libraire, 1737. viii, 243, [5]pp., 8vo. With the half-title, and the privilege and errata pages at end. Contemporary calf, spine gilt; upper joint split but firm. First edition of this fine verse rendition of Pope’s Essay on Man, and Essay on Criticism, with a long, original critical essay by the translator. The work was much reprinted, but this first edition is uncommon. OCLC records seven copies.... more information

London: Printed, and Dublin Reprinted in the Year, 1740. 16pp., sm. 8vo. Upper outer corner apparently sometime nibbled, with some loss of paper but well clear of text, a little minor soiling throughout but a perfectly sound copy, neatly bound in modern marbled boards. First Dublin edition, written as if from Alexander Pope to Robert Walpole and so, as Foxon says, “the wrong attribution is not surprising,” so much so that here, unlike the London edition, Pope’s name is explicitly given ... more information

London: Printed for Tho. Horne, 1710. [x], 32, [2]pp., 8vo. With the half-title and terminal leaf of bookseller’s advertisements. Half-title and last page a little dusty, but a pleasant, entirely untrimmed copy, unbound as issued. “The Third Edition, Being the Only Correct and Finish'd Copy” of this charming and very popular poem on growing old. In fact there were at least a half-dozen editions, broadside and pamphlet, preceding this definitive one; Thomas Horne had published it a... more information

London: Printed, and sold, by Andrew Sowle, at the Crooked-Billet in Holloway-Lane, 1687. [xvi], 143, [1]pp., sm. 8vo. With pp. 133-143 containing the poem “Advice to a Son” printed vertically and with wide margins. An excellent copy in the original blind-tooled sheep; expertly rebacked and restored preserving most of the original spine. First edition of a significant distillation of the principles of toleration, published in the early and comparatively halcyon days of James II’s rule. ... more information

London: Printed for Henry Herringman, 1664. 68pp., 4to. Some soiling and minor staining throughout, cut a little close affecting a couple of page-numbers and headlines, and not quite touching the first line of the title. Early inscription on title below the author’s name “Wrote one more called ye Villain.” Bound with a defective copy of the first and only edition of that very play, The Villain, a Tragedy, 1663, with some extensive repairs to the first couple of leaves, and pp. 7-10 in o... more information

Cambridge: Printed by J. Archdeacon, 1773. [iv], 349, [3]pp., 4to, including the last blank leaf. A large and pleasant copy in contemporary sprinkled calf, spine gilt; slightly rubbed but perfectly sound. First edition of this elegantly-printed series of “classic amusements,” arguing among other things that the Homer referred to by Horace was not that of The Iliad but the “Roman Homer” Quintus Ennius. Among other amusements are the author’s disputing Alexander Pope over the la... more information

Exeter [England]: Printed and Sold by P. Hedgeland, 1811. 23pp., 12mo. Contemporary ownership inscription “S. Rowland 1812” on title. Disbound. First edition, a collection of extracts from Priestley’s major work on education designed to illustrate the subject of religious education; the compiler is nowhere identified. The Miscellaneous Observations were first published in 1778. The present pamphlet is rare, with COPAC locating only the British Library copy, and OCLC adding three more,... more information

London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, within Grays-Inn Gate next Grays-Inn Lane, 1709. [ii], xxiv, [iv], 328pp., 8vo. Engraved frontispiece by DuGuernier after Howard (some cataloguers include this in the book’s pagination); small stains to the last two leaves. An attractive copy in late nineteenth-century full red morocco, spine gilt, gilt inner dentelles, g.e. First edition of the first authorized text of Prior’s poems, hugely popular and many times reprinted. This copy contains the earliest ... more information

London: Printed for Tipper and Richards, 1807. xvi, 342, [2]pp., 8vo. With the half-title and terminal advertisement leaf. A fine, fresh and entirely untrimmed copy in the original grey boards, cream paper backstrip partly missing, but firm on the sewing cords. First edition, by one of the worst of the English poets laureate. The present prose work, however, is one of his best, containing, as the Cambridge History notes, “some noteworthy matter. A man, who, born in 1745, could write ‘Sir Ch... more information