POEMS CHIEFLY CONSISTING OF SATYRS AND SATYRICAL EPISTLES
London: R. Bentley, 1689. First Edition. Hardcover. 16mo, (6.75" x 4.5") Half-calf over non-pareil marbled boards.Outer spine lacking but binding tight. Lacks pp. 27-30, which, according to the table of contents should be "Sylvia Perjured", but no pages appear cut out, perhaps rather neglected by binder to be bound-in. The later -- probably 19th century rebinding resulted in some over-trimming of the top-of-page titles.
Interior very, clean, but for some centuries-old inked signatures, including a signed name (Edey E?gar Smith??), followed by her flyleaf-rhyme warning, dated 1793, nearly a century after the book's publication: "Don't steal this book for fear of shame for year you see the oner name" -- most likely a schoolchild's rendition of a then-popular flyleaf rhyme found on a bible in Concord, Mass: "Steal Not this book / for Fear of Shame / for Here You See / the Owner['s] Name (Folklore and Book Culture, by Kevin J. Haynes).
310 pages. Title page pasted onto blank page. Boards show edgewear but very good. . No Publisher stated [R.Bentley]. Stated "Printed and to be sold by most booksellers in London and Westminster."
(Watson NCBEL 475). Good Plus. Item #74651
Robert Gould [ca. 1660-1709] was born in poverty, worked as a footman to the wealthy, and later, after achieving some success writing, worked as a schoolteacher. His early poetry was at least somewhat influenced by Juvenal, but when Gould published "Love Given Over...", his baldly misogynistic diatribe, he far surpassed the relatively tame Satirist whose style he at least drew upon. Gould used his writing to win his independence in the most literal way.
He is remarkable in that he is one of the few poets of his generation not born into the upper class. His poetry and satires reflected the licentiousness of the Restoration period.
"...Nor is it a wonder, when we consider that Women (as if they ...had the Ingredient of Fallen-Angel in their Composition) the more they are lash't, are but the more hardned in Impenitence...Judge, then, if Satyr ever had more need of a sharper sting than now, when he can look out his Cell on no side, but sees so many Objects beyond the reach of Indignation. Nor is it altogether unreasonable for me (while others are lashing the Rebellious times into obedience) tohave one sting at Woman, the original of Mischief..." (Advertisement, from LOVE GIVEN OVER: OR, A SATYR AGAINST THE PRIDE, LUST AND INCONSTANCY, &C., OF WOMAN (1680).
Price: $350.00