SHEPHERD, Richard Herne.
No. I. Studies of Sensation and Event by Ebenezer Jones … London, Pickering & Co … 1878.
[bound with:]
[SHEPHERD, Richard Herne.] The Lover’s Tale; a supplementary Chapter to Tennysoniana. (Only fifty Copies printed) [after 1870].[and with:]
[MUIR, John, translator.] The Story of Savitri. [1880].[and with:]
MUIR, John, translator. Further metrical Translations from the Mahabarata … and two short metrical Translations from the Greek. [1880?][and with:]
GLADSTONE, William Ewart. Two Letters to the Earl of Aberdeen, on the Stare Prosecutions of the Neapolitan Government. Twelfth edition. London, John Murray … 1851.[and with:]
GLADSTONE, William Ewart. The Vatican Decrees in their bearing on Civil Allegiance: a Political Expostulation … London, John Murray … 1874.[and with:]
BROWN, John. Something about a Well, with more of our Dogs … Edinburgh, David Douglas, 1882.Seven works in one vol., pp. 22, [2], in the original tan printed papers wrappers; pp. 8; pp. 24; pp. 50, in the original blue printed paper wrappers; pp. 48; pp. 32, in the original tan printed paper wrappers; and pp. 23, [1], in the original pink printed paper wrappers; bound together in contemporary quarter roan and marbled boards by Henderson and Bisset for John Skelton, spine lettered in gilt; some wear to joints and corners; first two works inscribed John Skelton Esq with the author’s compliments and dated 9 November 1878, Two Letters inscribed ‘John Skelton 1851'.
An interesting collection of rare tracts, from the library of the Scottish lawyer and journalist John Skelton (1831–1897), who wrote for Blackwood’s under the pseudonym ‘Shirley’.
The first two pieces in the volume, by Richard Herne Shepherd, are inscribed to Skelton by the author, and comprise a short monograph on the poet Ebenezer Jones, and an essay on Tennyson’s very rare early poem, The Lover’s Tale (1833), which Shepherd published in an unauthorized edition in 1870, quickly suppressed by Pickering – this essay does not mention the re-print so either precedes it or pointedly omits the reference. Both pamphlets are rare, the second particularly so, with copies at the British Library and Texas only.
The Scottish Indologist John Muir (1810–1882) spent several decades in India as a civil servant and then judge. On his return he devoted his energies to a series of publications of the Sanskrit source texts of Indian cultural history. Included here are rare private printings of translated passages from the great Hindu epic the Mahabharata. The legend of Savitri and Satyavan tells the story of Princess Savitri, who, by her intelligence and devotion, overcomes a divine prophecy foretelling the early death of her husband. This episode is of literary and religious significance in Hindu tradition, with its themes of destiny, free will, and conjugal fidelity.