PRESERVING THE CANCELLED LEAVES G6-7

Miscellanies in Prose and Verse.

London: Printed for John Morphew ... 1711.

8vo., pp. [14], 416; first few leaves browned but a very good copy in contemporary panelled speckled, calf, rebacked preserving the old spine; modern bookplate.

£1250

Approximately:
US $1577€1462

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First edition, ordinary paper issue, the very rare first state, with G6-7 preserved (though slashed for cancellation); the cancellans was printed on A8, not here present.

This is the first authorized collection of Swift’s early work in verse and prose. Twenty-five pieces were assembled by Morphew, with the blessing of the author, including the Meditation upon a Broom-stick, the Account of the Death of Mr. Partridge, and Baucis and Philemon. In later years it was to provide the inspiration, the title, and most of the first volume for the Pope–Swift Miscellanies in Prose and Verse of 1727-32.

A last minute decision to omit the final paragraph of ‘A Discourse of the Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome’ (three pages on political corruption), led to the cancellation of G6-7 and its replacement with a single page printed on what was originally A8 (here excised). We can trace only two other copies (British Library and Rothschild) that preserve these leaves, slit as here.

Teerink-Scouten 2; Rothschild 2015.

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