Gothic Stories (1799), with Barbauld's Sir Bertrand. George Nicholson's Literary Miscellany & Cooke's Pocket Editions. 8 vols., 1765–1801

Inbunden bok. 1795.

Mycket gott skick. GOTHIC STORIES (1799), with Barbauld's "Sir Bertrand", George Nicholson's Literary Miscellany, Sterne, Voltaire, Goldsmith, Pope &c. 8 uniformly bound vols., 1765-1801.

An exceptional collection of late 18th-century English pocket literature in eight uniformly bound contemporary leather volumes, containing some thirty separately published works, principally issued by George Nicholson of Manchester and Ludlow and C. Cooke of London, 1765-1801.

Of particular interest is the scarce GOTHIC STORIES (Ludlow: G. Nicholson, 1799), 28 pp., containing "Sir Bertrand" by Anna Laetitia Barbauld, together with "Sir Gawen", from the Speculator, and "Edwin", from the Universal Magazine. Barbauld's "Sir Bertrand", first published in 1773, is an important early experiment in Gothic prose, predating the great popularity of Gothic fiction in the 1790s. Nicholson's small-format Gothic Stories formed part of the inexpensive literary publications associated with his Literary Miscellany and should not be confused with the different publication of the same title issued by S. Fisher.

Vols. 5-8 contain an extensive collection of Nicholson publications, many separately issued and also associated with his Literary Miscellany. Among them are Laurence Sterne, Extracts from the Tristram Shandy, and Sentimental Journey (1796) and Letters of Yorick & Eliza (1801); La Rochefoucauld, Maxims and Moral Reflections (1796); Alexander Pope, Essay on Man (1797); John Gregory, A Father's Legacy to his Daughters (1797); William Shenstone, Poems (1798); Oliver Goldsmith, Poems (1798); Ancient Ballads, Songs, and Poems (1798); Chesterfield, Maxims (1796); Dodsley, Economy of Human Life (1795); and Preceptive, Moral, & Sentimental Pieces (1796), containing Benjamin Franklin's "Way to Wealth". Also Ambrose Philips, Pastorals, Edinburgh, 1765, the earliest work in the collection.

Vols. 1-4 contain C. Cooke's illustrated pocket editions: Ridley's Tales of the Genii, 2 vols., with 7 engraved plates; Gessner's Death of Abel; Voltaire's Zadig; and the poetical works of Falconer and Langhorne, with further engraved titles and plates.

Provenance: "Jane Clarke Oct.br 1801" additionally inscribed is "Rose A. Clarke. May 1850."

Bindings: Eight sturdy, well-executed contemporary leather bindings, uniformly decorated, with gilt rules, contrasting spine labels and red numbered labels 1-8; board edges decorated with a blind-tooled tooth-pattern roll. Bindings firm and sound, with normal rubbing and signs of age; internally generally clean and well preserved.

A particularly appealing survival of Georgian popular literary publishing, combining Cooke's illustrated pocket editions with a substantial group of Nicholson's publications. Especially notable for the 1799 Gothic Stories with Barbauld's "Sir Bertrand", the extensive early provenance, and the handsome uniform eight-volume binding.