The Life of Nelson
Hardcover
1825 · London
by SOUTHEY, Robert
London: John Murray, 1825. Hardcover. Very Good+. Two volumes. viii, 264 ; viii, 288 pp. With two frontispieces. 8vo., 165 x 103 mm. Bound in full navy straight-grained morocco, French fillet borders on covers, spine gilt (a bit chipped at the top), red morocco labels. New Edition of Robert Southey's esteemed biography of Nelson, written around the same time the author was appointed poet laureate of England. Southey's objective was to write a pocket edition on Nelson, "clear and concise enough to become a manual for the young sailor, which he may carry about with him" (author's preface). In this he was certainly successful. Renowned for its straight forward, no-nonsense narrative style, this is one of the poet's greatest prose works. Sir Humphrey Davy described this work as "an immortal monument raised by genius to valour." Hinges strengthened, some chips at the head of the spine of the second volume, but an excellent copy from the distinguished library of Calvin Bullock, with bookplate. (Inventory #: D14554)