The Poetical Works Of Edmund Spenser

London: William Pickering, 1839. leather_bound. Decorated full polished green calf. Top edges gilt. Near fine. 5 Vols. 282,, 295, 296, 303, 317 pages, 16.5 x 10.5 cm. The Aldine Edition. One of the great poets of the English Renaissance. Spenser was well-read in classical literature, scholars have noted that his poetry does not rehash tradition, but rather is distinctly his. Walter Raleigh wrote a commendatory poem to The Faerie Queene in 1590 in which he claims to admire and value Spenser's work more so than any other in the English language. Bright, fresh set with the memorable gilt Aldine anchor front covers, and bound by Bartlett. Raised bands, panels (truncated) decorated in gilt, brown spine labels gilt lettered, marbled endpapers, gilt turn-ins. One volume with slight sunning front cover head. (Inventory #: 24247)