The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, Esq; Containing all his Original Poems, Tales, and Translations. 4 vols (set)

Description

Original mottled tan calf boards. Rebacked in light brown calf, blind fillets and red gilt label per spine. Gilt decor to board edges. Wear to board corners. Small dent to rear fore-edge of vol. III. Small 8vos (10.8 x 17.0cm). Original endpapers restored at gutters. Armorial bookplate to inside front board of all vols; as it has Fortescue motto and earl’s coronet it is almost certainly that of James Fortescue, created Earl Fortescue in 1789. Somewhat tight margins at title page gutters; no issue elsewhere. A little foxing, mostly to prelims. Loop of cord from rebacking left free in vol. IV, between pp. 368-69. Vignette chapter headpieces. An early collected edition, first published in 1760, in the midst of Dryden’s career as an author who succeeded in ‘reforming the syntax of our prose at the same time as he was perfecting the rhyming couplet as the dominant form for English verse, fashioning it into an instrument for argument, giving it a rhythmical variety and tonal range which no one has matched’ (ODNB). ESTC T131403. Robust packaging. Tracking can be added to overseas orders on request. Used books are exempt from USA tariffs.