The Warwick Woodlands or, Things As they Were There, Ten Years Ago

Philadelphia: G.B. Zieber & Co, 1845. First Edition. Octavo. 18cm. Bound in later full bottle green morocco by Bennett of NY, elaborately decorated and titled in gilt to spine and boards with geese, ducks, snipe etc. [iv]; 168pp. Strong, tight, and attractive, very light wear, slight darkening to the spine panel, gilt bright; internally fresh and clean, top edge gilt, later marbled endpapers, dampstaining to p.69 and a little thumbing in places. A very good copy indeed, in a later sporting themed full leather binding.

Henry Herbert was a rather tragic figure, seemingly continually falling short of his own expectations of himself, and who only seemed to find any sort of steady personal voice in his works under the Forester pseudonym, discussing the finer arts of shooting, fishing, and woodland stalking. A sort of lost genetic remnant of several aristocratic British bloodlines, but frequently financially wobbly and unable to get a steady footing, Herbert seems to have alienated most people in his circle at one time or another, and eventually shot himself in a full length mirror, after having thrown a party to which many were invited but none attended.
Although his output included a slew of adventure novels and various other literary exploits, he is chiefly remembered for his wistful, keenly observed, and evocative accounts of woodland sporting activities. Scarce and collectable.